


The Extra

by ElaineLily1



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Brainwashing, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fantasy, Slow Burn, Torture, Wish Fulfillment, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:14:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 15
Words: 38,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25296751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElaineLily1/pseuds/ElaineLily1
Summary: Three weeks before Katara found Aang, she found another person frozen on the tundra. That girl was me. Since I was a huge fan of Avatar, I immediately latched onto the story and did everything possible to keep to it. Although, that, um... well, it didn't always go to plan.New updates every Wednesday! Hope you enjoy!
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Zuko (Avatar)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 37





	1. Here we go...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A 17-year old girl from our world gets sent into Avatar: The Last Airbender. Basically, just a wish-fulfillment fanfiction. If you don't like that type of story, don't read it. I'm basically only publishing it so I have some motivation to keep writing and fleshing out the story. Feel free to write a comment, but I really won't mind if you don't. Enjoy! :)
> 
> This'll be the only summary and it was the original story summary. Since it's become more than just a fun little stupid project for me, I revamped the story summary.

Katara’s POV  
“Build the watchtower by yourself then! I’d like to see you try!” I screamed at Sokka and stormed away from my brother. Ugh! The nerve of him! Couldn’t he see I’m trying to help him with his stupid tower?! That insufferable- horrible- Ugh! I stomped my way all the way out of camp.  
“Katara! Wait! Come back! Katara!” He yelped after me, but I didn’t turn back. I needed some space. Sorry Gran. I’d do my chores later. I couldn’t be around his almighty idiotness. I kicked patches of snow and bent water into spikes as I trekked further into the icy wilderness. Who did Sokka think he was? He always talked like he was better than all of us. Just cause he’s a guy doesn’t mean he’s stronger than the rest of us. I bet I’m a hundred times stronger than him. I’m a waterbender. He’s just nothing.  
This train of thought spiraled for a while. I ended up deep in the icy desert with nothing but snow in sight. A freezing gust of wind brought me out of my thoughts. I shivered and curled in on myself trying to conserve warmth. I had gotten too far out. I should head back. If I didn’t come back, Sokka would kill the village with his laziness. But as I went to turn back the way I came, I hesitated. What was that?  
A cluster of bright colors stuck out against the white snow. I blinked my eyes a couple times. What the heck was out this far? I made my way over getting faster as I went. The cluster of colors became clearer. It was a person! A girl. She was freezing to the touch and was quickly turning blue. I grabbed her and tried to pick her up. Damn it! I’m not strong enough. I put my fur coat over her and started dragging her across the snow. I was panting like a polar bear dog and freezing cold by the time I could see the village.  
“Help! Someone help me!” I yelled as loud as I could, which at this point was probably not very loud. A figure that was outside the village started heading my way. I sighed in relief and stopped pulling so hard on the girl I was dragging. As the figure drew closer, I saw that it was Sokka. He was running.  
“Sokka!” I yelled again.  
“Katara!” He yelled back and put his head down to run faster. He reached us and I collapsed into him. “Katara! Are you alright? Who’s that?” He almost shouted in my ear. I weakly pointed inland.  
“She was out there, nearly frozen. I couldn’t just leave her.” I murmured through my chapped lips. I licked them unconsciously. Sokka helped me to camp and hurried back to the mystery girl that I had found.  
“What happened Katara? Why did you stay out that long? You’re smarter than that.” Gran Gran berated me and wrung her hands with worry, but I didn’t have the energy to explain. I dragged myself over to my and Sokka’s tent. “Katara!” Gran called after me, but I ignored it again and practically fell onto my pelts. Gran followed me and Sokka was right behind. He put her onto his pelts and layered the covers on top. “Katara, who is this?” Gran was still asking all sorts of questions, but I couldn’t answer. I could only make a low groaning sound when I tried to speak. Gran understood immediately as she always did, knelt next to me and said softly in my ear, “Sleep Katara. You can tell me tomorrow when you’re warmed up. Hopefully, this girl will also be awake and she can tell us why she was out there.” I followed her instructions and let the world go black.

Reader’s POV  
I woke up warm and cozy under a blanket. I burrowed into them, but felt the hard cold ground beneath me and opened my eyes alarmed. I was in a completely different place. I was in some sort of burlap tent. I was wrapped up in lots of blankets. I checked my clothing situation. I was in a hot pink bra with a pink and blue flannel over top. My flannel shirt. I also had my grey shorts on. The cold air started to seep in and I lowered the covers again to keep the warmth in. I looked at my surroundings. Where the heck was I?  
A young woman came in. She was wearing a light blue full-body coat with feather accents and dark blue gloves. Her hair had little loopies in it. That’s when it hit me. Those were Katara’s hair loopies. Was that Katara?  
“Oh hey, you’re finally awake. Are you ok? We found you lying out there in the snow.” She spoke suddenly and knelt next to me.  
“I think I’m ok. I’m not entirely sure where I am though… or how I got here… or anything else for that matter.” I stammered out and slowly scrunched up my eyebrows as I said this. I needed her to believe my amnesia.  
“You don’t remember anything?! Can you tell me your name? Anyone in your family? Where do you come from?” She demanded, seeming to get a bit angry. I shook my head and tried to give my best confused expression. Oh, please believe me. Her eyes widened and angry gave way to pity. She cleared her throat and stated, “Well, if you’re really that lost, maybe you can stay with us in the Southern Water Tribe until you get your memory back.”  
Pushing myself up into a sitting position, I argued, “I wouldn’t want to intrude-”  
“No. You’re staying here. End of story.” She insisted and pushed my shoulders back down to the ground. “We have no idea how long you were out there. You got a lot of frostbite and, thankfully, we managed to get you back here before you got any permanent damage. You are probably still numb in some places. You should stay here under the covers until Vata says you’re ok to get up again.”  
“Who’s Vata?” I asked. I didn’t recognize the name.  
“She’s our healer.” Katara explained.  
I hummed in acknowledgement. We both sat there awkwardly for a second. I broke the silence by asking, “ Well, what’s your name?”  
“Oh, I’m Katara, best waterbender in the South Pole.” She claimed and put her hands on his hips trying to look all impressive. I raised a skeptical eyebrow and she crumbled muttering, “Ok, only waterbender in the South Pole.” I chuckled, which got her giggling, then it turned into full blown laughter. We laughed for a minute before we both quieted down. The awkward silence returned and this time she broke the silence with, “Well, I should send Vata in. She’ll tell you when you can start moving around again.”  
She left the tent and an older woman came in.  
“You’ve given us quite a scare my dear. You came to us blue and lifeless.” She remarked and seemed not to see the horrified expression on my face. She laughed and reassured me, “Oh, don’t worry dear. I’ve nursed people back from much worse cases of frostbite and hypothermia. These are just the dangers of living in the South Pole. You’ll be ready to get up and move around again by tomorrow morning.”  
I sighed in relief and gratefully stated, “Thank you. You’ve been so kind to me.” She waved her hand.  
“Nonsense. It’ll be great to have another young hand around here.” She laughed and stood up. Her face turned serious and she said firmly, “Now go back to sleep dear. You need it.”  
She left the tent and I obliged, swiftly falling into the land of dreams.

~~~~~~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up again in the tent. Katara was finishing up preparing herself and putting on her fur coat. She didn’t notice I was awake, so I said, “Hey Katara.”  
She turned abruptly and quickly smiled. She reached down and grabbed a bundle near the entrance. “Here’s some warm clothes. They’re my extra, I hope you don’t mind. Vata took your measurements last night and they won’t be ready until tomorrow.”  
“Oh.” I didn’t exactly know how to respond to that, so I just said, “Thanks.”  
“Put them on. Once you’re done, you can come out and I’ll introduce you to the tribe.”  
She left making sure the flap closed behind her. I carefully removed myself from the warmth of the blankets and put on the clothes. My joints felt rigid and the whole process was more than a little uncomfortable, but by the time I was completely done, some parts had already started to warm up from my body heat.  
During this process, I thought about what my name would be. I could just keep my own name. It would be the easiest thing to do. Changing my name would be more fun. Since I ‘have’ amnesia, I wouldn’t immediately be used to my name, so no troubles there. I should change my name. Hmm. What to pick? I’ve always fancied being an Amelia. No, that’s not really this world’s vibe. Elaine? It works on Earth, but I’m not sure it would work here. Maybe Lily? No. I have to think of names that fit this world’s aesthetic. Asian names… Oo. Maybe someone from Sailor Moon. Usagi… no. Ami… no. Rei… yes! I’ll be Rei. Rei of no tribe, nation or kingdom. Sure. I walked out of the tent. There were more people than I thought there would be. I froze up. Katara jumped in and explained, “Everyone, this is the girl we found. She kinda lost her memory, so she’ll be staying with us until she gets it back.”  
I awkwardly smiled and waved. I said, “Hi. My name is Rei. I’m going to do my best to help out as much as I can. I hope we can all be friends.”

~~~~~~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~~~~~~

Sokka held up his spear and readied himself to catch a fish that was swimming next to our canoe.  
“It’s not getting away from me this time. Watch and learn, Rei. This is how you catch a fish.” He said.  
“I already know how to fish Sokka. You don’t need to teach me again.” I responded dryly and rolled my eyes at his arrogance.  
“Shh.”  
I sighed and looked back to Katara. She had taken one of her gloves off and waterbend with a fish.  
“Sokka, Rei, look!” She exclaimed.  
My eyes grew in amazement at Katara’s waterbending. Being in a world with magic was taking some time to get used to. Sokka didn’t even look back at us.  
“Shh Katara, You’re gonna scare it away. Mmm, I can already smell it cooking.” Sokka called from the front of the canoe.  
“But, Sokka, I caught one!” Katara protested.  
She bent it over my head and towards Sokka, but he popped her bubble and made her drop the fish. All of the water fell on him. I started giggling. Sokka yelped at the cold water soaking him to the bone. He turned around scowling.  
“Why is it that every time you play with magic water, I get soaked? Hey, stop laughing Rei. It’s freezing!” He proclaimed indignantly.  
I tried to contain my laughter, but that just made it harder to stop. Katara sighed in exasperation. Ah, we were gonna get Katara’s waterbending speech again. I can’t even imagine how many times Katara must’ve said her spiel over the course of their lives. She had said it literally at least once everyday over the last three weeks. Katara started to say, “It’s not magic. It’s waterbending. And it’s-”  
With the most I’m-done-with-this voice I’ve ever heard, Sokka cut her off, “Yeah, yeah, an ancient art unique to our culture, blah, blah, blah. Look, I’m just saying that if I had weird powers, I’d keep my weirdness to myself.”  
“You’re calling me weird?” Katara retorted hotly.  
I dropped my head into my hands. Here we go again. Literally all those two did was bicker. All day, every day. For three weeks.  
“I’m not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection.” Katara teased.  
Sokka, who had just been doing that, looked back at Katara and went to retort back before the whole canoe was bumped by a massive piece of ice. We got dragged into a current and Sokka attempted to gain back control with little success. We got hit again.  
“Watch out!” Katara yelled. Sokka groaned with the effort to redirect the canoe away from any ice bits. Katara tried to help by yelling again, “Go left! Go left!” Just let the guy focus Katara. I just held onto the side for dear life as we got bumped and pushed every which way until we all got bumped out of the canoe when it was completely wrecked. Katara looked harshly at her brother and scoffed,“You call that left?”  
Sokka stuck his spear in the ice and rebuked, “You don’t like my steering. Well, maybe, you should have waterbended us out of the ice.”  
I groaned in esaperation and laid myself back down on the ice cube we were floating on. Katara continued to shout at her brother, “So, it’s my fault!”  
“I knew I should’ve left you home.” Sokka griped under his breath before accusing, “Leave it to a girl to screw things up.”  
“Hey!” I piped up from my place on the other side of the ice cube. Sokka had the decency to look a bit sheepish.  
“Sorry Rei.” He muttered.  
Katara stood indignantly. She took a huge breath before she fumed, “You are the most sexist, immature, nutbrained. Ugh! I’m embarrassed to be related to you!”  
The iceberg behind her started to crack with every angry swing of her arms. Sokka and I both looked up at it and freaked out a little. Katara didn’t notice. She was just way too angry. She continued, “Ever since Mom died, I’ve been doing all the work around camp, while you’ve been off playing soldier. Rei has helped more while she’s been here than you’ve done your entire life!”  
“Uh… Katara…” I interjected and pointed repeatedly at the teetering iceberg. Katara ignored me.  
“We even wash all the clothes. Have you ever smelled your dirty socks? Let me tell you. Not pleasant!” Katara ranted.  
Cracks were forming all over the iceberg. A strong gust of wind would have been able to make it fall apart. I subconsciously moved as far away from that edge of our little ice cube as possible.  
“Katara! Settle down!” Sokka blurted. He tried to use his hands to demonstrate this.  
“Katara… you might actually want to do that this time…” I reasoned.  
“No! That’s it. I’m done helping you. From now on, you’re on your own!” Katara shouted, throwing her arms around in her anger and a final crack streaked up the center of the iceberg.  
All of Katara’s anger dissipated and she looked over her shoulder. She drew back in shock. The center crack split the iceberg in half and they both fell into the water, creating a massive wave. We all held on for dear life as the icy wave pushed our little icecube a bit away. Sokka snapped, “Ok, you’ve gone from weird to freakish, Katara.”  
“You mean, I did that?” Katara wondered at the empty space in front of us. She looked dumbstruck. Where the iceberg had been, now only large pieces of ice floated. Sokka wrung his ponytail to get rid of the water.  
“Yep. Congratulations.”  
“Sokka, stop it.”  
“Sorry Rei.”  
A weird glow started to emanate from the water below us. A massive glowing iceberg came up from under the water and we all stood up. Inside, we could see a boy with a glowing head and hands and a massive creature around him. Aang opened his eyes. Katara gasped, “He’s alive! We have to help.”  
Katara grabbed Sokka’ club and started off toward the iceberg. Sokka yelled, “Katara get back here! We don’t know what that thing is.”  
He ran after her, grabbing his spear on the way. I sighed before following. We ran across the floating bits of ice to the glowing chunk of ice. Katara started to whack the club against it. After a couple swings, a huge release of air pushed us all back. Luckily, we didn’t fall into the water. The iceberg began to crack and it burst open like an explosion. A huge beam of blue light shot into the sky for a few seconds. The fog settled and we regained our footing. A small boy climbed up to the side of the collapsed iceberg. Sokka brandished his spear threateningly and demanded, “Stop!”  
The boy in the iceberg suddenly just stopped glowing and fell over.


	2. The Boy in the Iceberg

Last Time…  
The iceberg began to crack and it burst open like an explosion. A huge beam of blue light shot into the sky for a few seconds. The fog settled and we regained our footing. A small boy climbed up to the side of the collapsed iceberg. Sokka brandished his spear threateningly and demanded, “Stop!”  
The boy in the iceberg suddenly just stopped glowing and fell over. 

Katara gasped as the boy fell down the side of the ice. She ran forward and caught him in her arms. I noticed the curious, but maybe a little more look in her eye. It was starting!! Awww! I was such a Kataang fan! Sokka was still suspicious and poked him with the end of the spear. Katara protested, “Stop it!” She pushed her brother away. I stayed back, so Aang and Katara could have their moment.   
Aang opened his eyes and gasped, “I need to ask you something.”  
“What?” Katara said curiously.  
“Please, come closer,” Aang whispered softly.  
Katara leaned down and imitated Aang’s soft voice, “What is it?”  
Aang closed his eyes for a second, then opened them with a huge grin on his face.  
“Will you go penguin-sledding with me?” He asked excitedly.  
Katara drew back really confused and said, “Uh… sure. I guess.”  
Aang got up off the ground. Sokka jumped back at his subtle airbending.  
“What’s going on here?” Aang asked and scratched his head. Sokka started going at it and demanded, “You tell us! How’d you get trapped in the ice? And why aren’t you frozen?”  
He poked Aang in the side with his spear, but Aang didn’t even appear to notice. He was too busy taking in his surroundings. He said, “I’m not sure.”  
A growling came from behind the icy wall. Aang scrambled up it and jumped off into the center of the iceberg. The siblings and I went around to an opening and saw Aang fighting to wake up a huge buffalo creature. Sokka’s mouth dropped wide open. Appa licked Aang and got up onto his feet. We approached the situation carefully. Sokka stood in front of us like he was trying to protect us. Like he could compete with Appa. Ha! Appa would crush him.   
“What is that thing?” Sokka demanded.  
“This is Appa, my flying bison,” Aang answered.  
Sokka deadpanned and retorted, “Right. And this is Katara, my flying sister.”  
Appa growled at Sokka, then sneezed snot all over him. Sokka froze, then started scrambling to get it off, even trying to scrap it off on the ground. Aang giggled, “Don’t worry. It’ll wash out.”  
Sokka tried to pull it off with his glove which just stretched it out. Aang looked at us girls and asked, “Do, do you guys live around here?”  
Sokka grabbed his spear again, held it up to Aang and declared, “Don’t answer that. Did you see that crazy bolt of light? He was probably trying to signal the Fire Navy.”  
Katara brushed him off and went over to Aang’s side. She teased, “Oh, yeah. I’m sure he’s a spy for the Fire Navy. You can tell by the evil look in his eye.”  
Aang put on an innocent face and a wide smile. Sokka groaned. Katara introduced us, “The paranoid one is my brother Sokka. That’s our friend Rei. You never told us your name.”  
“I’m -,” Aang started, but he started to sneeze. He tried to keep it in, but he sneezed himself right into the air and slid back down the ice to us. Sokka and Katara were dumbfounded.  
“I’m Aang.”  
He rubbed his nose and smiled. Sokka spoke first, though he was completely shell shocked. “You just sneezed and flew ten feet in the air.”  
Aang looked up and stated, “Really? It felt higher than that.”  
“Oh! You’re an airbender.” Brilliant deduction Katara. Maybe we should call you Katara Holmes.  
“Sure am,” Aang boasted giving the girl a wide smile.  
“Giant light beams, flying bison, airbenders - I think I got midnight sun madness,” Sokka groaned and started to walk away. “I’m going home to where stuff makes sense.” He walked right up to the edge of the iceberg before he noticed our situation. I let my face fall into my hands once more.   
Aang offered, “Well, if you guys are stuck, Appa and I can give you a lift.”  
Katara grinned and exclaimed, “We’d love a ride. Thanks.”  
Katara ran up to Appa’s side and quickly got on the saddle. I followed behind.  
“Oh no. I am not getting on that fluffy snot monster,” Sokka insisted.  
Aang came to help Katara who was having a bit of trouble actually getting on the saddle. Katara teased, “Are you hoping some other kind of monster will come along and give you a ride home? You know, before you freeze to death.”   
Sokka grumbled but got into the saddle. Aang got back into the driver’s seat and called, “Ok. First time flyers, hold on tight. Appa, yip yip.”  
He flicked the reins and Appa jumped into the air before falling and landing on the water.  
“Come on Appa. Yip yip,” Aang encouraged.   
“Wow, that was truly amazing,” Sokka snarked and I slapped his arm.  
“Appa’s just tired. A little rest and he’ll be soaring through the sky. You’ll see,” Aang reasoned.   
I laid down and tuned out what they were saying. Eventually it got dark and I fell asleep. When I woke up, we were back in the village. Katara and Sokka were already up and were talking with Gran. I waved to them. Aang hadn’t woken up yet, so I carried him into my tent that I had woken up in too three weeks prior. I went to go for my morning run.   
Ever since I got there, I realized that if I was going to be a part of the story, I needed to be in better shape, so every morning, I ran around the edge of the entire glacier we were on. I tried not to think about how this was probably the last day I’d be able to do that.   
When I got back, Aang was showing off his airbending tricks and I just smirked and chuckled at his antics. I grabbed Katara and said, “Come on, we need to do our chores.” We walked off to the sewing tent.   
“Is everything on schedule here? We’ll need those extra blankets for the winter. Gran says it’s going to be a cold one this year,” I asked. One of the elders, Yorina, lifted her head from her work. She was one of the oldest besides Gran. Yorina was amazing.   
The first week that I came here, I was really hesitant to talk to anyone or go anywhere that wasn’t my tent (which was still Katara’s as well at that point. I got my own tent in the second week.) or the fire pit that we all ate around for dinner. I went out at nights wrapped in my blanket and sat looking at the moon. Sleeping with all the knowledge I had was hard in the early days. Especially when Katara was snoring one meter away from me.   
Yorina just started sitting with me in complete silence. Eventually I cracked and started crying openly. After that, I just kept talking. I pretended like I remembered my previous life when I slept and it was hard watching memories that I still couldn't remember. She comforted me about my ‘lost’ life and encouraged me to make friends with the siblings.   
We didn’t have moonlit talks anymore. Not that we didn’t talk, we just moved them to dinnertime. I couldn’t stay up every night. Sleep was very necessary for someone my age. At least, that was her argument and I couldn't very well deny that. Sometimes others joined in during our dinnertime talks and it wasn’t as private, but I still loved talking with Yorina. The old woman was currently smiling brightly at me, wrinkling around her eyes.  
“Everything’s going great Rei. We’ll be done by the end of the week. We’ll have time to make a couple extra tents in case of storms,” Yorina answered.  
“Good good. That’s really great. Thanks Yorina. Is there anything we can do to help? Do you need any extra string or fabric? Or dolphin whale blubber?” I had been initially disgusted when I heard that they used blubber in all their heavy clothes, blankets and tents, but I couldn’t deny that it was so much warmer with it then without it.   
Yorina shook her head and I bowed my head to her respectfully. I didn’t turn, but I assume Katara did the same. She returned the gesture and went back to her work. We left the tent and walked directly into the next one. Vata’s.  
“Vata, how’s Rikam?” I asked the healer. The boy in question was sitting cross legged on a pelt with his wrappings laying next to him. Vata was moving his arm about in different ways.  
“Is his arm any better?” Katara added. Vata placed down the Rikam’s arm and   
“He’s doing much better. After making sure he wouldn’t move it, his recovery has taken a miraculous turn. His shoulder is almost completely better. It’s all thanks to you Rei.” Vata explained, while ruffling the hair of said boy.  
“It’s nothing. Dislocated shoulders are usually very easy to fix. And he’s been such a good boy about it. Though, hopefully, this will teach him not to run on the wall,” I mused and Rikam looked down abashed. Vata laughed slightly.  
“I’m sure it will. He’ll be ready to get out of here and cause more trouble tomorrow. Thank you for checking up on us Rei. All my supplies are sufficiently filled. I have no work for you girls. Gran should let you kids rest once in a while. I’ve told her so,” Vata clucked. I smiled.  
“It helps her nerves. And we’re happy to help,” I said before giving her the same head bow that I gave Yorina. She responded in kind and Katara and I left the tent.   
We walked outside the village and checked up on the strength of the wall. Katara bent water onto the sides and I piled snow up to the top. I slid down and asked, “What do you think Katara? Do you think the wall’s fine?” Katara threw a bit more icy water up on the top and froze it.   
“There. It’s good now. So, Rei, what do you think of Aang?” Katara asked. We headed back to the village entrance.  
“Honestly, I haven’t had the time to create an impression. From what I can see, he’s very carefree and a little childish, but that’s to be expected. He is just a little kid,” I answered. At this point, he was just a little kid who ran away from responsibility. That’s nothing new in children. In time, both Katara and he would grow into the brave and extraordinary people that would save the world.  
“I think he’s so much more than that. I can tell.” Katara looked into the distance. I chuckled.  
“Sure Katara. Sure,” I teased.  
“Shut up Rei. Not like that,” Katara protested, but I saw the small smile that lit her face as we walked the rest of the way back to Gran’s tent. Ah, to be young and feel love’s keen sting. I giggled to myself.  
“Hey Gran. The extra blankets are well on their way and there’ll be time to sew some extra tents. Rikam’s arm is almost healed and he’ll be able to get back to warrior training tomorrow. Vata’s supplies are completely filled,” I reported.  
“The wall is very stable and it would take a Fire Nation ship ramming into it to break it down,” Katara added. I flinched. Shoot. I forgot about that. Well, all our hard work was going to waste then.  
“Good job girls. Katara, go check on our food supplies. I don’t trust your brother to keep out of the stores. Rei, I don’t have a specific job for you. If you’re exhausted for the day, you can go rest, but we can always use more food and the elders can always use some help with sewing,” Gran explained.  
“Yes Gran,” Katara and I chorused. Then we went our separate ways.   
I took a canoe and fished a bit right outside the village. It was slim pickings, but I was good at spotting the silvery creatures. I took them back to the food stores. Katara wasn’t there so she probably went looking for Aang. I salted the fish and put them with the others.   
I went back to my tent and gathered my things into a ready and available pack. I needed something that I could grab at a moment's notice.   
I heard gasps outside and went out to see the flare go up. The red light was extremely visible against the white and grey sky. Zuko would be on his way. No doubt about that.  
I grabbed my sword and scabbard. Sokka had given it to me since he only ever used his boomerang. One of the water tribe men had accidentally left it and the rest of the tribe had just kept it in case he came back and wanted it. It was kinda short, but it was easy enough to learn how to use since it was so light.   
I took off my fur coat and pinned my braid into a bun. I put on the lipstick that was the only thing in my pockets when I arrived here. I strapped my sword and scabbard tightly to my person. I said a small prayer to the spirits of this world and psyched myself up for the impending battle.


	3. First Meeting

Last Time…  
I took off my fur coat and pinned my braid into a bun. I put on the lipstick that was the only thing in my pockets when I arrived here. I strapped my sword and scabbard tightly to my person. I said a small prayer to the spirits of this world and psyched myself up for the impending battle.

Sokka popped his head in the flap and said, “Rei, come on. Katara’s coming back. I need you there with me.” I nodded and followed him out of the village.  
The entire tribe stood there waiting as Aang and Katara came over the ridge. A couple of kids ran up to Aang and Katara to welcome them back. Sokka stepped out from beside me and Gran.  
“I knew it. You signaled the Fire Navy with that flare. You’re leading them straight to us, aren’t you?” Sokka accused.  
“Aang didn’t do anything. It was an accident.” Katara explained.  
“Yeah, we were on the ship and there was a booby trap. And well, we- we boobied right into it.” Aang added.  
“Katara, you shouldn’t have gone on that ship,” Gran berated. “Now, we could all be in danger.”  
“Don’t blame Katara. I brought her there. It’s my fault.” Aang remarked.  
“A-ha! The traitor confesses! Warriors, away from the enemy! The foreigner is banished from our village.” Sokka commanded.   
“Sokka, you’re making a mistake,” Katara argued.  
“No, I’m keeping my promise to dad. I’m protecting you from threats like him.”  
“Aang is not our enemy! Don’t you see? Aang’s brought us something we haven’t had in a long time. Fun.”  
“Fun?! We can’t fight firebenders with fun!”  
“You should try it sometime.” Aang interjected, but that just made Sokka more angry.  
“Get out of our village, now!”  
“Surely, you can’t agree with this Rei.” Katara looked at me, but I wasn’t in the mood for pity.   
“No, Sokka is correct in this case. I know you want to be a fearless waterbender, but a healthy dose of fear keeps all of us alive. You may have just led the Fire Navy straight to us. What good will foolish bravery do then?”  
Katara looked at me completely betrayed, but I stood my ground. Katara turned to Gran.  
“Grandmother, please, don't let Sokka do this.”  
“Katara, you knew going on that ship is forbidden. Sokka is right. I think it best that the airbender leaves.”  
“Then I'm banished too!” Katara declared. She took Aang by the shoulder and began walking to Appa. “C'mon, Aang, let's go!”  
Sokka took a step after them and demanded, “Where do you think you're going?”  
“To find a waterbender! Aang is taking me to the North Pole!”  
“I am? Great!” Aang brightened at the thought.  
“Katara!” Sokka yelled and Katara stopped in her tracks. “Would you really choose him over your tribe? Your own family?”  
Katara paused and it was clear she hadn’t thought it through. Aang came up next to her and stated, “Katara, I don't want to come between you and your family.” He walked forward away from her and towards Appa.  
“So, you're leaving the South Pole? This is goodbye?” Katara said softly.  
Aang dimpled at her and simply said, “Thanks for penguin sledding with me.”  
“Where will you go?”  
Aang put a hand on Appa and replied, “Guess I'll go back home and look for the airbenders. Wow, I haven't cleaned my room in a hundred years. Not looking forward to that.” He airbended himself onto Appa's head where he takes the reins. He turned and addressed the village, “It was nice meeting everyone.”  
Sokka scoffed, “Let's see your bison fly now, air boy.”  
Aang looked down at Appa and encouraged, “Come on, Appa, you can do it! Yip! Yip!” Appa rumbled lowly and got onto his feet.  
“Yaeh, I thought so.”  
One of the little girls rushed forward with a cry to stand by Katara. I think her name was Kiha. or was she Lanuh? Ugh. I can never remember all their names and what face went with which name. But anyways, she cried out, “Aang! Don't go! We'll miss you!”  
“I'll miss you too.” Aang looked at Katara longingly, then shook the reins again. “Come on, boy.” Appa walked off. The little girl ran off crying back to the village and the tribe all dispersed. Gran went up behind Katara.  
“Katara, you'll feel better after you –” Gran started.  
Katara cut her off yelling, “You happy now? There goes my one chance of becoming a waterbender!” She stalked off angrily. Gran followed her with sad eyes. I went up to Gran and hugged her gently.  
“Don't worry about Katara. She’ll understand in time. She’s too young to truly understand yet,” I comforted.  
“Oh Rei. You are so wise beyond your years. Come. We must be prepared. You and Sokka are really our only defense.” We walked back to the village and I breathed deeply before taking up my position in the middle of the village. Sokka had drilled our defense plan into my millions of times. He was our first line of defense, and I was our second. He stood on the wall and attacked anyone who came from the water. I kept the village safe and protected from any land attackers. I knew he just wanted to keep me out of the way. He didn’t believe that I was any good at fighting. I wasn’t, but that’s not the point.   
While I waited standing next to our currently not lit fire pit, I mentally prepared myself for Zuko’s attack. I had had a major crush on Zuko when watching the show. I just hoped that maybe he’d be less attractive in real life and I wouldn’t have a problem. I put on my game face and imagined roots extending downwards from my feet into the ground. Sokka climbed the wall and groaned as his watchtower came tumbling down. The Fire Navy ship seemed to come out of nowhere. And yikes it was really huge. I did not expect it to be that huge. I didn’t flinch as the wall crumbled. A bit of snow caught my shoulder and I brushed it off without taking my eyes off the ship. Sokka ended up falling right next to me and stood up quickly.  
The front tip of the warship came down and revealed an opening. Zuko and six of his men exited the ship. Holy shit! It’s worse. It’s so much worse than I imagined. I froze up and, in that time, Sokka tried to attack the firebenders. Zuko came right up in front of me. Right in my face. His beautiful, perfect face right in front of mine. He must’ve assumed I was the leader since I was standing my ground in front of everyone else.  
“Where are you hiding him?” Zuko barked.  
Knowing the situation, I faked furrowing my brows in confusion and said, “Hiding who?”   
“He’d be about 100 years old, master of all the elements. I know you’re hiding him,” He sneered.  
I blinked a couple times in mock surprise. “You mean the Avatar? Isn’t he dead? It has been a hundred years. And why would he come here? The Northern Water Tribe is much better defended.” I eyed the damage to our wall. “As we have seen.” I swiftly brought out my sword and swung at him. He blocked it with fire and the heat traveled up the blade and almost burned my hands. I dropped it and yelped, but I still glared at the prince. Zuko growled, walked a bit to the side, lit his hand on fire, and held it close to my neck. Damn he’s hot.  
“You will tell me where the Avatar is,” Zuko growled.  
“There is no Avatar here,” I sneered back at him.  
Just as I said that, Aang slid in and knocked Zuko off of his feet. I threw my hands up and stepped back to make way for the last airbender.  
“Oh come on Aang. I might have actually been able to convince him,” I griped.  
“Hey Katara. Hey Rei. Hey Sokka,” Aang ignored me in favor of greeting the siblings.  
“Hi Aang. Thanks for coming,” Sokka returned from his place on the ground.  
Zuko got up off his ass and got into his fighting stance. His soldiers surrounded Aang. He threw snow in all their faces.  
“Looking for me?” Aang asked.  
Zuko looked surprised and asked, “You’re the airbender? You’re the Avatar?”  
The village collectively gasped.   
“Aang…”  
“No way.”   
I just smirked at everyone’s reaction.   
It was funny.  
Aang and Zuko started to circle each other.   
“I’ve spent years preparing for this encounter, training, meditating. You’re just a child,” Zuko taunted.  
Aang stopped short and plainly stated, “Well, you’re just a teenager.”  
Zuko started blasting fireballs at Aang. Aang deflected them and danced around Zuko. Some of the fire got way too close to me and the rest of the village. Aang turned around to look at us, then stopped spinning his glider staff.  
“If I go with you, will you promise to leave everyone alone?”  
Zuko nodded and Aang was grabbed by Fire Nation soldiers. Katara stepped away from the pack and begged, “No, Aang, don’t do this.”  
“Don’t worry Katara. It’ll be ok,” he reassured. He looked unsure of himself, as I’m sure we all were. “Take care of Appa for me until I get back.”  
Zuko shouted, supposedly to the captain of his ship, “Head a course to the Fire Nation. I’m going home.”   
Aang turned and looked at us with a small smile on his face. It dropped as the ship closed up. The ship backed out of the hole it made in the glacier and sailed off. Katara ran to the edge of the glacier and watched it go. I started putting tents back up and clearing out excess snow that had burst in from the hole. I don’t know how the villagers are gonna fix that. It was a huge gaping hole in our wall. How the heck were they supposed to fix that? Sokka grabbed me and put a bundle in my hands.  
“Here. Carry this and follow me.”  
I nodded.  
“Wait, let me get mine.”  
I ran to my own tent which had fallen, but I pulled the tent off and grabbed my pack. I returned to Sokka and he showed me to a small canoe. Katara was standing a bit away from us and exclaimed, “We have to go after that ship Sokka. Aang saved our tribe. Now we have to save him.”  
Sokka turned to her and tried to butt in, “Katara, I-”  
“Why can’t you realize that he’s on our side? If we don’t help him, no one will. I know you don’t like Aang, but we owe him and -” Katara proclaimed indignantly.   
Sokka had had enough of it and he interrupted, “Katara! Are you going to talk all day or are you coming with us?”  
Katara turned to see the canoe we’d been filling with everything we thought we would need, gasped and ran to embrace her brother.   
“Sokka!”  
“Get in. We’re going to save your boyfriend.”  
“He’s not my-”  
“Whatever.”  
Gran Gran snuck up behind them as I looked on, amused. I got out of the boat. She questioned, “What do you three think you’re doing?” The silbings turned around and tried to act all innocent. She smiled and held up some blankets. She explained, “You’ll need these. You have a long journey ahead of you.” The siblings looked at each other in disbelief. She turned to Katara and said, “It’s been so long since I've had hope, but you brought it back to life, my little waterbender.” She and Katara shared a hug. She turned to Sokka. “And you, my brave warrior. Be nice to your sister.” She embraced him and he awkwardly patted her on the back.  
“Yeah, ok, Gran.”  
I thought about my own grandparents. I wonder if they’re ok. I missed Gran turning towards me.  
“And you, Rei. I may not have known you long, but you have such a good heart. I hope you don’t mind that I’ve started to think of you as my granddaughter as well,” Gran stated with a smile on her face. I returned it.  
“I don’t mind.”  
She embraced me as well. I smiled gratefully and stepped back.  
“Aang is the Avatar. He’s the world’s only chance. You three found him for a reason. Now your destinies are intertwined with his,” Gran explained.  
Katara turned to our puny canoe and remarked, “There’s no way we’re going to catch a warship with a canoe.” Appa must’ve heard us or something because he growled from a distance and came over the snowy hill toward us.  
“Appa!” Katara exclaimed before running toward the bison who hadn’t yet realized that he’d basically just signed up to take us after Zuko’s warship.  
“You just love taking me out of my comfort zone, don’t you?” Sokka griped.  
I rolled my eyes, grabbed Sokka’s sleeve and started dragging him toward Appa.  
“Fine! Fine, I’m going!”  
I let him go and grabbed some stuff out of the canoe. Sokka and I loaded up the saddle while Katara climbed up into the driver’s seat. Appa turned his head and slid her off. Katara started to yell, “What is wrong with you? We’re trying to save Aang!”  
Appa growled lowly at her. I rushed to her side and put a hand on her shoulder. I moved over to Appa and stroked down his face and nuzzled up against it. Appa stopped growling and nuzzled his face into me, almost knocking me over, but I hugged back harder. I whispered so Sokka and Katara wouldn’t hear, “May I please lead you to where Aang is? He’s been captured and you’re our only way to get him back.”  
Appa seemed to be considering it and slowly blinked his eyes. I let a smile crawl onto my face and I swung up gently onto Appa. Katara’s mouth had dropped open. Sokka leaned over the saddle and looked at his sister.  
“Well, are you coming Katara?”  
“Yeah, yeah. I’m coming.”  
She got on the saddle a little disgruntled and I led Appa into the water. We swam away from the village. I looked back at the shrinking mass of snow and tents. It had been so peaceful. I almost convinced myself that it might be better if Aang never showed up. I shook my head free of those thoughts. We can’t concern ourselves with what was, right? Only what is. I sighed deeply. I turned my attention to the vast blue ocean ahead of us. Aang would be ok until we got there. Right?


	4. The Warship

Last Time…  
I turned my attention to the vast blue ocean ahead of us. Aang would be ok until we got there. Right?

“Go… Fly… Soar…” Sokka drawled. He sat with his arms crossed in the saddle. I could feel the low growls coming from Appa below me. I reached down and patted Appa. Sokka was getting on both of our nerves, but we needed to help Aang.  
“Up… Ascend… Elevate…” Sokka continued and I spun round with a death glare digging into Sokka. I had the intense urge to go back there and slap him clear off of Appa. Sokka paled a bit as if he could hear my thoughts. Sokka continued, “What was it that kid said? Yee-ha? Hup-hup? Wahoo? Uh, yip yip?”   
As soon as he said those words, Appa growled loudly, slapped his tail in the water and flew into the sky. Katara and Sokka got up and looked out across the world they knew from a very different perspective. I casually took a glance around before focusing on my balance and our course. We’d get enough of the view later. Soon we’d basically be living up in the air.  
“You did it, Sokka!” Katara gasped.  
“He’s flying! He’s flying! Katara, he’s-” Sokka marveled, he stopped short. I assumed Katara was smirking at him.  
“I mean, big deal. He’s flying,” Sokka muttered.  
“It’s ok to be excited Sokka. This is probably the most exciting thing that’s happened in any of our lives so far,” I said.  
“I’m not excited,” Sokka protested.  
“Sure Sokka,” I sighed. Sokka’s toxic masculinity was such a pain sometimes. Katara came up behind me.  
“Hey Rei?”   
“Yeah?”  
“Do you think Aang will be ok?”  
I hesitated. Flashes of Aang in the avatar state flew through my head.  
“He’ll be fine. We’re going to rescue him. I bet he’s already escaped. We just need to get there as soon as possible so he can get away.”  
I hardened my jaw and gulped. I shook the reins. Appa flew a little faster.  
“Ok.”  
Uh oh. That’s not the voice of someone who’s hopeful. I turned to her and insisted, “Hey, don’t worry. He’s the avatar. I’m sure he can figure something out and he’s got us coming. Everything’ll be fine. And then I can take a nice long nap.”  
Katara laughed. Good. Comfort accomplished.   
“I’m sure you’ll be taking lots of naps on the way to the North Pole.”  
I smiled wide.   
“Oh yeah. I’m gonna be sleeping half of the way there. Y’all better not wake me up early.”  
“Well, we might have to to get the most travel out of the day.” She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.  
“Then I hope Appa doesn’t mind if I sleep on him all the time then, cause then you won’t have to wake me up,” I laughed. I patted Appa and asked, “You won’t mind, will you Appa?” He rumbled at me. Katara and I both laughed. “I think he’s fine with it,” I chuckled.  
Katara suddenly stopped short and pointed off into the distance.  
“Is that them?”  
I followed her point and, sure enough, there was the warship.   
“Yep. Alright Appa. Let’s go get Aang. Yip yip!”  
Appa took a dive and, as we got closer, we could see Zuko and Aang fighting on the deck.  
“Aang!” Katara yelled. She nearly fell out of the saddle with how much she was leaning. Aang looked up and smiled, but that gave Zuko an opening. He threw a fireball punch at Aang and trapped the boy up against the edge of the boat. He tried to keep his footing, but after an onslaught of fireballs, he fell into the icy water below. “Aang! No!” Katara screamed.  
She continued to call his name and I held Appa back from the warship. If Aang didn’t get back up, we’d have to fly out of there fast. I didn’t have to worry though. He entered the Avatar State and used waterbending to get himself back up on the ship and blasted Zuko and his men. Katara shook Sokka’s arm and gawked, “Did you see what he just did?”  
Sokka and Katara were both bent over the side of the saddle, marveling at Aang’s bending. Sokka was probably feeling a little stupid that he called waterbending, weird magic. In fact, he said, “Now, that was some waterbending.” Though I guess he’d never seen a real waterbending master before.  
Aang collapsed onto the deck.   
“Guys, hang on. We’re going down,” I warned. They followed my orders moving to the back of the saddle. I patted Appa lightly and instructed, “Come on, Appa. Go down.” He dipped down and landed softly on the deck. Katara and Sokka both slid down the side of our huge lovable beast and rushed to Aang. I stayed in my spot as the designated getaway driver. My eyes darted around the deck watching the soldiers and the place I had just seen Zuko fall off. The gaang talked a little before Sokka ran to get Aang’s staff. Katara led the exhausted avatar back to Appa. Aang slowly made his way up to where I was on Appa. He didn’t even realize that I was already sitting there and sat right next to me. He cuddled up on my side with his eyes closed. My wide eyes gazed down at the child who deemed my side a comfortable pillow. I barely managed to notice the Fire Nation soldiers come back to their senses and start approaching our little group.  
“Katara!” I warned and she turned to see the soldiers advancing on her. A stream of water lifted off the ground and the soldiers paused nervously. Katara threw her arms in a half circle, trying to freeze them. She threw it the wrong way though and got Sokka instead.  
“Katara!” He cried. The soldiers smirked and kept advancing. Katara turned and blindly threw some more water. The soldiers were frozen in their tracks. She stared at them in shock.   
“Katara, come on!” At my command, she clambered back onto the saddle.  
“Sokka, you too!”  
“I- am- trying! If you didn’t notice!” He yelled back at me in between hacks of his boomerang on the ice that held his captive.  
“Aarg!”  
A fireball came barrelling out of nowhere at us. Standing swiftly, I unsheathed my sword and blocked the strike. Aang’s body fell down onto where I had been sitting with my support now gone. My eyes scanned the deck and found Zuko panting on the edge of the boat, holding the gunwale for support. If it was physically possible, I’d probably burst into flames from the heat of his glare. I jumped down onto the deck, sword in hand. Zuko hissed, “Why don’t you just walk away, peasant?  
“I don’t run from fights,” I retorted.  
I halted in my tracks and thought for a second. I corrected, “Ok, well, I’m not gonna run from this fight.”  
Zuko sneered at me. To both of our surprise, he was suddenly hit in the head with a boomerang. My honor was completely left in the dust as someone grabbed my hood and dragged me onto Appa. Sokka had broken himself out of the ice and was dragging me into the saddle.  
“Sokka! What are you doing?!”  
Instead of answering me, he yelled up to Appa, “Yip yip! Yip yip!”  
“Hey! Sokka! Let go!” I protested, but it was too late. Appa took off into the air quickly and i had to either grab on or fall. I grabbed on with my right hand. Before we had time to flatten out, a fireball was thrown at us. Aang jumped up and knocked it off course. It created an avalanche that toppled all over Zuko’s ship. The gang all laughed at the sight. Aang went back up to the driver’s seat.   
As soon as we evened out, I stood and yelled, “Sokka! I had that!”  
“We needed to get out of there. You were gonna get yourself killed.”  
“No I wasn’t!”  
“Rei, yes you could’ve taken him, but we needed to get out of there. Our top priority is getting to the North Pole. We don’t have time to waste,” Katara reasoned. I folded my arms and huffed.  
“Fine.”  
I laid down in the saddle. Stupid Sokka. I could’ve taken Zuko. Well… Actually maybe not. Maybe it was a good thing Sokka pulled me out. Zuko has years of training on me. Though, he probably doesn’t know my preferred style of swordfighting. I sighed. Yeah. Sokka was right. Damn it. Well, not that I was ever going to tell him that.  
I shifted onto my side. The soft brush of wind was quite peaceful. Appa didn’t move around a lot while flying either. I couldn’t even feel that we were moving. Ugh. My head was swimming and my breathing slowed.   
“Is she asleep?” Aang whispered. Wow, his whispers were loud.  
“Probably. She loves naps. Can’t live without ‘em,” Sokka whispered back at the same volume.  
“Don’t wake her up or we’ll all get blasted,” Katara warned.  
“Shut up,” I groaned.  
“Oh. Oops. Sorry Rei,” Aang mumbled.  
I moaned and turned my body away from them. Everything fell silent. I sighed in content.  
It had been quite a long day. A very long day. A long day where I met the Fire Nation prince. His face was the last thing I saw before I fell into unconsciousness.

~~~~~~~~~~Time Skip~~~~~~~~~~  
A scratchy blanket rubbed against my nose and I reached up to brush it away. I opened my eyes lazily. The dark night sky stretched out above me. Bright stars sparkled and a content smile crept onto my face. I would never get used to the lack of light pollution in this world. I could see so many stars. It was like the whole sky was shining. The gang had evidently made camp and left me alone in the saddle. Aang must’ve airbended it down to the ground. I pushed the blanket away and shivered. I wrapped my coat tighter around myself and stepped carefully out of the saddle. The gang was sleeping peacefully around a charred pile of sticks. I tiptoed out of the camp and into the forest to do my business. The sun started to peek out over the horizon and I walked to a small bit of beach within earshot of the camp. I sat on the dry sand and stretched out my legs. A chilly breeze came in from the ocean and flew straight through my clothes and froze my bones. My eyelids fluttered closed and I let my mind wander to the future. What purpose did I have here? What was I supposed to do? The gaang always managed to get through things by themselves. They don’t need me. No. That’s bad thinking. Stupid toxic brain. Stop it. Katara is your friend and you can be a voice of reason for the group of children. I snorted. Ha! To think that I’d be the adult in the situation. I’d probably be worse than Aang at times.   
“Rei! Where are you?” My eyes shot open. Oh well. I should probably go back. Katara’s probably worried. I pulled my body up and dragged it back to camp. Katara was packing up her sleeping bag and Aang airbended the saddle back up onto Appa.   
“Hey Katara, Aang,” I greeted.  
Katara ran to me and hugged me tightly.  
“Where the heck did you go? We were worried,” She chided.  
“I just woke up early and decided to take a walk,” I explained. She looked confused.  
“You… woke up early.”  
“Hey! That’s not that weird,” I protested.  
“No you’re right. It’s not that weird. It’s really weird,” Katara teased.  
“I- You- That’s- Shut up,” I spluttered and stomped over to Sokka. The teen was still fast asleep. I grabbed his sleeping bag and started pulling it towards Appa. Sokka groaned loudly and woke up real fast.  
“Hey! What’s going on? Stop it! Let go of me!”  
I dropped him.  
“Owwww!” He glared up at me. “Rei!”  
I smirked and snidely said, “What? I let you go. I did exactly what you told me to.”  
He tried to find words, but just sighed and got out of his sleeping bag and started to pack. I raised an eyebrow. That was new. Well. Teasing him’s not as fun when he doesn’t try to retaliate. I jumped up onto Appa and, a minute later, we were in the air once more heading toward the Southern Air Temple.


	5. The Southern Air Temple

Last Time…  
I jumped up onto Appa and, a minute later, we were in the air once more heading toward the Southern Air Temple.

When I woke up, it was dark out and the group had already made camp and fallen asleep. I tried to go back to sleep, but my mind had already woken up. I wandered around the small island we were on. Seriously, it was tiny. It took me about 3 minutes to walk from one end to the other. I sat on the beach and watched the waves slowly come in and out. Luckily, it was only about a half hour until the sun came up. Birds started singing their happy little songs and I heard Appa growl lowly. If Appa was up, Aang and Katara probably were too. I walked back swiftly. Just like yesterday, Aang and Katara were packing up and Sokka was still asleep in his sleeping bag. Aang jumped off Appa and walked toward the lazy lump.  
“Wake up, Sokka. Air Temple, here we come!”  
Sokka turned over and muttered something. I was still too far away to hear what he said. Probably something along the lines of ‘Shut up. I’m sleeping.’ Aang pondered for a moment, then a massive smirk worthy of the Weasley Twins crept onto his face. He reached down and grabbed a stick. I finally was within range to speak without yelling and greeted, “Hey Aang.”  
“Hey Rei. Shhh,” He whispered.  
He ran the stick all around the top of the sleeping bag and shouted, “Sokka! Wake up! There’s a prickle snake in your sleeping bag!”  
The water tribe teen opened his eyes lazily, then started jumping all around and screaming, “Get it off! Get it off!”  
I was laughing hysterically and then Sokka fell down on his face. I literally fell to the ground as well due to my inability to control my laughter.  
“Great. You’re awake. Let’s go,” Aang said.  
I quickly sobered up, stuffed all my items into my sleeping bag and rolled it up. I lept onto Appa and Sokka shambled up as well. Then we were off.  
I looked over the edge and watched the island disappear. Katara and Aang shared the front seat and talked about some waterbending stuff and some old stories about the air temple from a hundred years ago. I closed my eyes and just felt the wind fly past me, whipping my hair around everywhere. Everything was quiet in the saddle until Sokka’ stomach growled loudly. I lazily opened one eye at him.  
“Hey, stomach, be quiet, all right? I’m trying to find us some food,” He grumbled. I shut my eyes again. It wasn’t really worth the effort. He reached into his bag and pulled out a bag. He turned it over and a few crumbs fell out. He whined, “Hey! Who ate all my blubbered seal jerky?”  
Aang looked back from the front seat and confessed, “Oh. That was food? I used it to start the campfire last night. Sorry.”  
He turned back round. Sokka gasped, “You what? Aww. No wonder the flames smelled so good.”  
I consoled, “ It’s ok Sokka. We’ll find some food at the Air Temple Sokka. Don’t worry. Relax. Enjoy the quiet while it lasts.”  
I shifted into a more comfortable position. The wind slowed a bit. It was quite soothing. If everyone could just be quiet, it would be the most peaceful place I’ve ever been.  
“Ok Rei.”  
I heard him move around and plop down on the opposite side of the saddle. And everything was quiet. Ahhh.  
“The Potola Mountain Range! We’re almost there!” Aang yelled. I rose out of my laid-down position. Oh well. Guess I couldn’t nap right then. Best to have a completely awake mind while we were at the temple.  
“Aang, before we get to the temple, I want to talk to you about the airbenders,” Katara said carefully.  
“What about them?”  
“Well…”  
Katara hesitated, so I butted in with, “No one’s seen or heard from an airbender in a thousand years.”  
“Just because no one has seen an airbender doesn’t mean the Fire Nation killed them all. They probably escaped,” Aang insisted.  
Katara jumped back in and laid a comforting hand on Aang’s shoulder.  
“I know it’s hard to accept. But the Fire Nation is ruthless. They killed my mother. They could’ve done the same to your people.”  
“You don’t understand. The only way to get to an airbender temple is on a flying bison, and I doubt the Fire Nation has any flying bison. Right, Appa?”  
He stroked Appa’s head. Appa growled in response.  
“Hold on tight everybody. We’re going up. Yip yip!”  
I grabbed my bag and held onto the side of the saddle. Sokka did the same. We went nearly vertical as we raced up the mountain side. We finally cleared the top of the mountain and saw the temple. The temple was covered in snow, but the beautiful white towers and the bright blue roofs stood out. The fact that all the trees were dead and there seemed to be no life didn’t really bother me. It just made the whole thing look more serene.  
“There it is, the Southern Air Temple.”  
Katara and Sokka were also looking at the structure with awe. Katara said, “Aang, it’s amazing!”  
Aang leaned down next to Appa and smiled, “We’re home, buddy. We’re home.”  
Once we landed, I slid off Appa quickly.  
“I’m gonna go search for some food. See ya,” I rushed and I sped off not giving them any time to argue. I did not want to be in the same vicinity as Aang when he went into the Avatar State. That stuff was scary as all heck.  
I wandered through the temple. Intricate designs were scattered across the walls. The whole temple felt like a labyrinth. There were inside parts and outside parts. There were lots of staircases and even some ladders. It actually reminded me of Hyrule Castle in Breath of the Wild. The carvings on all the walls showed people with airbenders tattoos. Some were flying on gliders. Some were meditating. But it was all beautiful. Even the vines that had grown over the intricate stonework made it all the more perfect. I resisted the urge to eat the berries off of some of the vines. Hunger games had taught me well. Don’t eat berries if you don’t know for absolute sure that they’re not poisonous.  
Huge courtyards of stone were empty. The entire place felt empty. The fountains were dry and the only things that moved were the leaves in the wind. Pity crept up on me and my eyes shined with unshed tears.  
I eventually found a massive dining hall. The sight turned my stomach. The ground was littered with death. Monk and firebender skeletons gleamed white against the stone that was completely stained brown. I gagged again. If I had had a full stomach, I probably would have thrown up. I took one more look and started dry-heaving and I fell to my knees.  
After coughing up some bile, I managed to steel my stomach and explored the hall. I did my best to not look at the skeletons. I found an entrance to a kitchen. Inside, I found some moldy bread and a little fruit scattered across the table. I looked in disgust at the bread, but the fruit still looked relatively good. Maybe Momo had picked it and put it there for safe keeping. I ate one myself, gathered them up into an old flour bag and started the long trek back to Appa.  
About halfway there, I felt the wind pick up drastically. I hurriedly hid in an alcove on the side of the road until it died down. I guess Aang found Gyatso. I walked back and ran into the group who was walking back from the other side. I gave the bag to Sokka.  
“Here’s some fruit.”  
He gratefully stuffed one in his mouth and muttered through the food in his mouth, “Oh thanks Rei.”  
“Where’d you get that?” Katara asked  
“There’s a kitchen down that way.” I said, pointing to where I’d come from.  
“Was there anything else?”  
“A little, but I only had one bag.”  
“Here.”  
She reached up onto the saddle and grabbed Sokka’s empty blubbered seal bag.  
“Let’s go. We’ll need all the food we can get.”  
“Ok.”  
I led her back. I paused at the last turn. Katara looked at me with concern. I grabbed her shoulder and warned, “You may want to prepare yourself. It’s a graveyard in there.” She nodded solemnly. We walked into the kitchen. Katara gasped and halted. I kept my gaze on the ground. I skirted the room and hurried into the kitchen. I was bagging a bunch of moon peaches when Katara stumbled into the room. Her hand was clutching her stomach. With a swift well-placed kick, I pushed a pot over to her in time for her to get sick in it. I put down the bag and I held her hair back. When she was done, she wiped her mouth and groaned. I pushed the pot full of sick as far away as I could and embraced her. We just sat there tightly wrapped around each other. My shoulder was getting progressively wetter with how much Katara was sobbing. I tried to pull away and she just held on tighter.  
“Katara, I know it’s horrible, but we need to get these supplies back to the boys,” I muttered softly. I patted her head and tried to pull back again.  
Katara sobbed, clinging on tighter. She cried, “I couldn’t protect him. He saw his old mentor dead and he lost control. Everyone he knew is dead.”  
Aang’ avatar state must’ve taken a bigger toll on her than I thought. I squeezed hard.  
“I know it’s horrible, but we can’t dwell on the past. Yes, the air nomads were killed, and it looks like very brutally. But we have to focus on everyone we can still save. The Earth Kingdom and the two water tribes. They need us.”  
“They need Aang.”  
I pulled my head back and looked her right in the eye.  
“No. They need all of us. One person does not have the strength to carry the weight of the world alone. Even the Avatar. We all have to share the load and keep each other hopeful.”  
Her grip loosened.  
“Ok,” she murmured.  
“And don’t ever let me hear you even imply that you are less than Aang. We all have our own strengths and weaknesses.”  
“Ok! I get it. Sheesh, and Sokka calls me motherly,” Katara teased. A grin broke out on both of our faces and I gave her one last quick hug.  
I stood and declared, “Well, Sokka’s gotta be wondering where we are with his food.” Katara barked out a laugh and stood up as well.  
“Well, let’s not keep him waiting,” she giggled. We both grabbed a bag and started stuffing whatever we could find. It was mostly moon peaches and apples. After coming to a realization, I halted. Katara ran into me and almost dropped her bag.  
“What is it?”  
“Well, these are still ripe. They can’t have been stored here for that long. How are they here? I didn’t even think about that.”  
“Maybe it was that lemur we saw. He may have picked the fruit and kept extra here.”  
I shrugged and said, “Actually, you know, I don’t think I care. It’s still food. Who cares where it came from?” I slung my bag up onto the center counter. Katara did the same. We had a nice, albeit small, pile of bags of fruit.  
“I guess. Alright, that’s the last bag. I’ll take three and you take three?”  
I nodded and grabbed my share. Katara followed my lead as we carefully made our way through the decimated dining hall.  
“So, do you think Aang’s alright? I heard the wind pick up on my way back. Was that him?” I gently asked. I just needed her to let me in on the loop so I didn’t look psychic if I let slip that I knew what happened. Katara nodded.  
“He went into the Avatar state. I was able to calm him down though.”  
I hummed my understanding. The rest of the walk back was in silence. Though I was behind her, I knew that Katara’s head was spinning. Aang’s Avatar state was a lot to handle at times. She’d be fine.  
“Hey you’re back! And you brought more food!” Sokka cheered. His enthusiasm was heartwarming, but I didn’t like the next thing he added. “Good cause I already ate the last bag.”  
I gasped and tore the bag he had just taken from me out of his hands. “Sokka! We have to conserve. Who knows the next time we’ll get the chance to gather supplies?” He had the decency to look sheepish and muttered something along the lines of an apology. Though, as soon as my back was turned, he grabbed another peach.  
“Say hello to the newest member of our family,” Aang called from his place next to Appa. He walked over to us with the lemur on his arm.  
“What are you gonna name him?” Katara asked.  
The lemur swiftly leapt over to Sokka and took the peach he was about to bite into.  
“Momo,” Aang answered.  
We all laughed and giggled at Sokka’s face. His mouth was hanging open and he just looked so shocked. The sky turned dark as the siblings and I tucked all our newly acquired food bags into our tied-down bags. Aang was still standing on the ground and sorrowfully surveying his surroundings.  
“Aang, it’ll be ok. We can come back here later and put the monks to rest properly. For now, we have to go.”  
A second passed, but he gave me a slow nod. A gust of wind later and Aang had already called out, “Yip yip.” Appa took to the skies and I had to quickly grab on to the front edge of the saddle.  
The sun set in the west, coloring the skies in a beautiful rainbow of color, and Aang glanced back at the temple. The light of the sun was reflected in his eyes and, for a moment, it looked as if he was in the Avatar state. But that didn’t stop me from seeing the tears welling up in his eyes before he swiftly turned his back to the temple.


	6. Kyoshi Island

Last Time…  
The sun set in the west, coloring the skies in a beautiful rainbow of color, and Aang glanced back at the temple. The light of the sun was reflected in his eyes and, for a moment, it looked as if he was in the Avatar state. But that didn’t stop me from seeing the tears welling up in his eyes before he swiftly turned his back to the temple.

Katara and Sokka went to sleep quickly. My thoughts were too loud for that, and apparently I wasn’t the only one. In the front seat, Aang stared straight ahead, his body completely rigid. The only movement coming from him was the methodical raking of his fingers through Appa’s fur. I leaned forward and put a hand on his shoulder. He tensed.  
“You should rest. I’ll take us down at the next island.”  
“Don’t worry. I’ll wake you all up to help set up camp. It’ll be alright. You can relax,” I promised at his obvious hesitation. He was silent for a moment, then nodded gently. In his exhaustion, I don’t think he even noticed that I helped him into the saddle and laid a blanket on top of him as he curled up into a ball. He was asleep in seconds.   
I climbed into the front seat and patted Appa’s head lightly. “It’s alright Appa,” I assured. “He’ll be back in the morning.” Appa rumbled slightly beneath me. “I hope you don’t mind me talking a little.” He grumbled what I hoped was an acquiescence. I cleared my throat and started, “Well, Aang’s just so small and hopeful.” Appa growled aggressively.  
“Not that he’s helpless. No, it’s actually quite the opposite,” I explained. I began running my fingers through my hair methodically, straightening out any knots as I went.  
“It’s hard seeing him like this. I know he’ll be disappointed by the world. And by himself. I’m not looking forward to the day when the fact that life is messy and unfair slaps him in the face. I don’t want him to get hurt. And I’m sure it’ll be my fault when it does happen,” I worried and started to bite my nails. Appa grunted and shook his head a bit. With a gasp and the sudden terror of falling into the ocean below, I grasped his fur and plastered myself to the top of his head. When he straightened out again, I shook my head with a smile on my face.  
“Thanks Appa. I really need to learn optimism.”  
It was only about a half hour until I could see land and, true to my word, I woke the gaang and, with some grumbles from Sokka, we quickly set up camp and practically fell into our sleeping bags. I didn’t even get into mine because I knocked out so fast.  
In the morning, I was rudely awoken by Appa nudging me roughly. When I realised what was going on, I laughed and brushed my hand under his chin. That may not have been my best idea because Appa barely let me up and I had to do a great deal of scratching his head to get him to take off with us again.  
Aang was silent during that whole process. He kept giving me slightly shifty looks. They were completely gone by the next time we landed, so I forgot about it quickly. Luckily, even with his limited knowledge of the area, Aang knew the exact path from the Air Temple to the island that the hopping llamas lived on. With my competitive nature, I began challenging Aang. We ended up staying there for an entire day.   
Then, we got back on the road.   
Then, we got lost.   
Sokka looked down at the map on the second day.  
“You have no idea where you’re going, do you?”  
Aang looked back from the front seat.  
“Well, I know it’s near water.”  
I facepalmed. Sokka snarked at Aang, “I guess we’re getting close then.”  
Katara was sewing Sokka’s pants. He had ripped them trying to ride the hopping llamas. Aang used airbending to get on the llamas. Somehow, I was able to get on one and I rode that one the whole time. Seeing my success, Sokka decided that it must not be that hard. Now, his pants had a giant rip on the seam. Aang tried to impress Katara with his marbles trick. I watched the ocean beneath us. The water didn’t even look like it was moving, instead just shimmering. It sparkled and shifted, reflecting the blinding sunlight. Suddenly, Appa turned sharply and I grabbed hold of the saddle tightly and yelled, “Hey Aang! Ease up!”  
“Sorry Rei! I forgot. You drive like a grandma,” He teased with a smirk. I gasped dramatically.  
“Hey! I drive safely so no one falls off!”  
“Uh-huh.”  
“Well aren’t you mister dangerous?”  
“Mister dangerous?” Katara laughed, then I started cracking up. Aang joined in and we were all just cackling wildly hundreds of feet in the air.   
“So, where are we going? Why’d we change course?” I asked, wiping away the watering in my eyes.  
“We’re gonna go ride the elephant koi. It’s super fun!”  
I recognized the bay that we were headed towards. Kyoshi Island. This should be fun. Appa landed softly on the beach and all of us, except Sokka, jumped down onto the sand. Sokka crossed his arms and insisted, “We just made a pit stop yesterday. Shouldn’t we get a little more flying done before we camp out?”  
He slid Appa’s side, landing next to Katara who agreed, “He’s right. At this rate, we won’t get to the north pole until spring.”  
“But Appa’s tired already. Aren’t you, boy?” Aang prompted. Appa didn’t do anything. Aang nudged the bison.  
“I said, aren’t you, boy?”  
Appa gave an unconvincing yawn. Sokka frowned, “Yeah, that was real convincing. Still, hard to argue with a ten-ton magical monster.”  
“Hey guys, I’m gonna go into the woods to… uh, you know… Be back soon.” I rushed and slipped into the forest of dead trees. I eventually found a bush that was far enough away that I couldn’t see or hear the gaang at all. When I walked back, I found the Kyoshi warriors taking the gaang away. Quickly I grabbed the hilt of my sword, but someone held a fan against my throat.  
“Keep walking.”  
I raised my hands in surrender. A blindfold was placed over my eyes and we walked back to the village. We were all tied up to a pole.  
“You four have some explaining to do.”  
“And if you don’t answer all our questions, we’re throwing you back in the water with the Unagi.”  
And Sokka had to prove his masculinity.  
“Show yourselves, cowards!”  
They took off our blindfolds. Damn. Suki was cute. Good for you Sokka. The boy continued to make a fool of himself however.   
“Who are you? Where are the men who ambushed us?”  
“There were no men. We ambushed you. Now tell us, who are you and what are you doing here?”  
But Sokka couldn’t just let it go. Oh no. That would mean admitting a girl was a better fighter than him.  
“Wait a second. There’s no way a bunch of girls took us down.” I rolled my eyes.  
“A bunch of girls, huh? The Unagi’s gonna eat well tonight.”  
Katara pulled herself forward against the ropes and   
“No, don’t hurt him! He didn’t mean it! My brother's just an idiot sometimes.”  
Aang spoke up from his side of the pole, “It’s my fault. I’m sorry we came here. I wanted to ride the elephant koi.”  
“How do we know you’re not Fire Nation spies? Kyoshi stayed out of the war so far and we intend to keep it that way.”  
“This island is named for Kyoshi? I know Kyoshi!”  
“Ha! How could you possibly know her? Avatar Kyoshi was born here 400 years ago. She’s been dead for centuries.”  
“I know her because I’m the Avatar.”  
“That’s impossible. The last Avatar was an airbender who disappeared a hundred years ago.”  
Aang perked up and proclaimed, “That’s me.” The elder was not convinced by that rock solid argument. I don’t blame him.  
“Throw the imposter to the Unagi.”  
I didn’t want to get eaten though. The warriors approached us on all sides.  
“Aang, do some airbending,” Katara encouraged. Aang swiftly jumped out of the ropes and floated down next to Kyoshi’s statue. Everyone gasped and gushed over Aang. One guy even foamed at the mouth and fainted.   
“Please Avatar. Let us accommodate you. Untie his friends.”  
The warriors did so.  
“Please follow me. I’ll take you to the big house.”  
We followed and Katara walked fast so she could speak with the elder, “Thank you so much sir. We’d be honored to stay here.”  
We walked all the way down the village road and they showed us around the house. They gave us our own rooms and, as soon as I saw mine, I leapt onto the bed and took a nap.   
It was nighttime when I woke again. I walked around a bit. The quiet of the village and the moonlight reflecting off the ground brought on a tranquil atmosphere. A gentle wind ruffled my hair and I had to push my hair behind my ears and out of my face. I ended up standing in front of the statue of Kyoshi. I knew who she was and what she was like because of the show, but my heart jumped at the sight of her like I was seeing an old friend.   
I sat without taking my eyes off the previous Avatar and, after a minute of sitting and looking, I decided to close my eyes. I breathed deeply in the cold night air and I detected a light smell of cherry blossoms.  
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”  
I turned my head to see Suki come up next to me. I turned back to the statue and hummed my agreement. She continued, “And so strong.”  
“A brilliant combination,” I concluded.  
“I hope I can be like her someday.” She said wistfully. I smiled and looked her in the eye.  
“I daresay you will be, if you aren’t already.”  
She blushed gently.  
“Thank you…”  
She tried to come up with my name.  
“Rei.”  
She nodded, “Thank you Rei.”  
I looked back up at Kyoshi’s face.  
“I think she’d be very grateful to the Kyoshi Warriors that you’ve kept this island out of the war this long.”  
“We are lucky to have gone mostly unnoticed. I believe she’s looking out for us.”  
I didn’t respond, but nodded along. I didn’t know if Kyoshi could do that being dead and all, but it was a nice thought. And who knows? Spirit magic is a bit weird and wacky here.  
“Rei, could I show you something?”  
I looked at her slightly confused, but nodded.  
“Come this way,” She beckoned and swiftly guided me back down the village road, but she didn’t stop at the big house. That was the end of the village. Where was she going? I didn’t voice my concerns aloud. She was trustworthy. We walked a bit into the woods before ending up in front of a veiled cave entrance. It legit looked like the entrance into Rapunzel’s tower valley thing from Tangled. She lifted the first layer of vines for me. I looked at her questioningly.  
“Just go inside. It’ll make sense in a second,” She assured. I stepped under the vines that she was holding and parted the rest in front of me. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped at the sight before me.   
A small lagoon sat with a massive willow tree towering over it. It was magical. Seriously. I could feel magic tingling in the air. Or maybe it was my nerves. I looked closer and found a simple gravestone and shrine sitting on a tiny island in the middle of the lagoon.  
“It’s her grave. I come here often to mediate and ask for guidance and strength. Trying to mediate next to the statue in the village is like trying to get a small child to sit still,” She explained. I giggled at the thought.   
“Thank you for showing me. I doubt we’ll be here for long, but this is a much-needed comfort. It’s so peaceful.”  
“You’re welcome. And if you’d like to join the warriors for a few sessions, you’d be welcome.”  
“I’m not much of a fighter,” I protested  
“You can always learn,” She challenged gently. “Think about it.”  
I hummed noncommittally. I sat at the edge of the lagoon and closed my eyes. She sat next to me. After a while, my eyelids started drooping. I got up without a word and left. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit my pillow in the big house.


	7. A Day of Peace

Last Time…  
I sat at the edge of the lagoon and closed my eyes. She sat next to me. After a while, my eyelids started drooping. I got up without a word and left. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit my pillow in the big house. 

I was awoken by an airball plopping me on the floor. I groaned and rubbed my head. Aang was leaning against my door.  
“Come on Rei, they brought us some food. And it’s desert for breakfast!”  
I growled slightly and went to grab him. He ran away using airbending. I ran after him yelling, “Get back here! You do not interrupt my sleeping young man!”  
“And who’s gonna stop me grandma?”  
I yelled in frustration and sprinted down the hallway after him. He took a left and I skidded into the room. Aang was looking down at the ground with his hands behind his back. Katara’s angry face entered my view.  
“You two are so childish! You shouldn’t run in the house! Ugh! I don’t even know what to do with you!”  
“Let us off and we can all eat breakfast?”  
Aang looked up hopefully at mom- (oops, typo) Katara. She narrowed her eyes, but then closed them and pinched the bridge of her nose.  
“Alright. Sit down and eat.”  
We both did so.   
“Alright! Dessert for breakfast!”  
Aang and I dug in. It was all super sweet and I loved it. I hadn’t tasted stuff like this since Krispy Kreme back in my universe. Katara was looking at the sweets with hesitation.  
“Mmm… Katara, you’ve got to try these!”  
Aang held out a pastry to her.  
“Well, maybe just a bite.”  
She took it and ate a bite. Aang looked over into the corner to someone I hadn’t noticed thus far. “Sokka, what’s your problem? Eat!”  
I looked over munching on a sweet banana-melon pastry. Sokka sitting hunched in the corner glowering at the ground in front of him.  
“Not hungry,” He muttered.  
“But you’re always hungry!”   
Aang looked shocked. A smug look curled up onto Katara’s face and teased, “He’s just upset because a bunch of girls kicked his butt yesterday.”  
“They snuck up on me,” Sokka protested.  
“Riiiight.” She smirked. “And then they kicked your butt.”  
Sokka stood up angrily and insisted, “Sneak attacks don’t count!”  
He started pacing and muttering to himself. He reached down and grabbed a couple of pastries from the table. He took a bite before huffing himself out of the room.  
“What’s he so angry about? It’s great here. They’re giving us the royal treatment.”  
“Hey, don’t get too comfortable. It’s risky for us to stay in one place for very long.”  
Aang got up from his seat and started walking toward the window.  
“I’m sure we’ll be fine. Besides, did you see how happy I’m making this town? They’re even cleaning up that statue in my honor!”  
“Well, it’s nice to see you excited about being the Avatar. I just hope it doesn’t all go to your head.”  
“Come on, you know me better than that. I’m just a simple monk.”  
Screams were heard from outside and Aang looked down. A large smile broke out on his face and he blushed from the attention. Katara stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry at him. I continued to eat because it was good food and they’d get over their little squabble eventually. They left before me. Katara went to get supplies and Aang to his fans. I made a small bag of water and food. Then, I sat in the little shrine. I talked to the small statue of Kyoshi. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. Words just kept spilling out of my mouth. I told her my problems and my worries about affecting the timeline. I spoke all about my old life. My brother and my parents.   
I cried a lot. It was a relief to talk. It wasn’t necessarily to someone, but close enough. It came naturally for me to talk. I hadn’t opened up about anything thus far. The peace and quiet must’ve had something to do with it.   
The yellow sun breached the edge of the mountain around me. Strips of sunlight flooded the pit cave, somewhat filtered by the willow tree’s canopy. A sigh escaped me as I soaked in the heat of the sun and unwrapped my lunch. As I was pulling out my healthy portion to just get it over with, I stopped short. I put it down on a napkin in front of me and reached back in the sack.  
“Here Kyoshi. I don’t think you can actually eat this, but hopefully you can appreciate the sentiment of eating together.”  
I stood, hopped onto the tiny island, and gingerly put the duckberry turnover in front of her gravestone.   
“Are you serious? That’s your offering?”  
My hair flipped into my face and I spluttered while hastily dragging my hair back behind my ears. As I struggled to straighten it out, I heard barely concealed giggles. I turned a glare to the warrior who had surprised me.  
“What is it to you?” I snarled. She took a step back and held her hands up in a mock surrender.  
“Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I come here to pray to Kyoshi before my lunch. I didn’t expect to see anyone here.”  
I scoffed. “My offering is what it is. I don’t usually pray and I thought, if she was here with me, she’d appreciate sharing the pastries.” I hopped back over the small stretch of water to my sack and started to put my sandwich back in.  
“No, you don’t have to leave. I’m sorry that I startled you. Can you forgive me?” The warrior grabbed my sandwich-bearing arm and tugged it away. I pursed my lips, turned my glowering face to her and stared right into her eyes: Those big pleading eyes. I sighed. She was truly sorry and I was being a bit of a bitch about it all. It was only a mild scare.  
“Look, let’s just start over. Hi, I’m Rei. What’s your name?”  
The girl grinned widely. “I’m Nakeh. And I already know. You’re one of the Avatar’s companions. It’s soooooo fantastic. Suki says I shouldn’t get too close cause he’ll have to leave soon. But I’ve been seeing all of the other kids running after him. But I’m a warrior so I have to be better than them. But it’d be really fantastic to meet him. But I want to impress Suki so I can be the best Kyoshi Warrior ever. But I-” I watched her literally devolve into arguing with herself. I scanned my eyes over her again. She was tiny. I didn’t realise it before because of the uniform. She couldn’t have been more than 8 or 9 years old. Why was she in the Kyoshi Warriors? Why would they take on that young of a girl? Nakeh was still ranting, “But I’m sure the Avatar has better things to do than talk to me about air nomad school. Probably fantastical Avatar things. Probably-”  
“Hey Nakeh,” I interrupted. She turned on her heel and ran up into my face.   
“Yeah?”   
How was her face not sore with how much smiling she was doing? Instead of asking that, I simply asked, “How old are you?”  
“Oh, I’m 9 years old in a couple weeks. Suki said that this was my early birthday present. I get to be a Kyoshi Warrior!”  
I raised a skeptical eyebrow.  
“Really? Suki agreed to that?”  
Nakeh’s smile abruptly switched from the bright grin to a self-satisfied smirk.  
“Well… after months of begging and pranks. After I stole her uniform, I think she just accepted that I wouldn’t stop until I got what I wanted.”  
I burst out laughing. Backing away, I clutched my stomach and bent over from sheer amusement. “Kid, you are… beyond insane. You got the makings of a master prankster.” I let out a couple more laughs before falling down next to my sack. I gave it a glance and asked, “Hey, wanna share some pastries?”  
We ended up laughing about all the pranks that she had pulled on Suki in order to get into the Kyoshi Warriors. I especially liked the one where she got one of the extra uniforms, dyed it pink, and replaced Suki’s uniform with that one. Suki apparently hadn’t even noticed because she was so sleepy and wore it all over the village and all the way to the house where the Warriors practiced. One of the early-risers hadn’t recognized Suki in the different uniform and kicked her into a muddy puddle. Suki had made Nakeh clean and re-dye the uniform which took the whole day. Both Nakeh and I agreed it was worth it.   
When the sunlight vanished back over the other side of the pit cave’s walls, Nakeh left to go back to training. I decided to settle in for a nap. As adorable as she was, the little ball of energy was just a little too much. I rested against the base of the tree and slept the afternoon away.  
The crow of a bird woke me much later when the sky was almost black. I felt my way around and grabbed my empty sack. In the dim light, I couldn’t see that the gravestone had only a pile of crumbs left on it. Luckily, I remembered my way enough to get back to the big house. Some of the torches were still lit, so it was easy enough to get back to my room. A small, cold helping of dinner laid on a table in my room. I ate it gratefully and rested peacefully that night.   
Breakfast the next day was… tense. Sure. That’s a word we could use. Super intensely tense. Aang and Katara did not want to talk to each other, but Sokka was fast-talking all about the warriors and their techniques. He seemed really happy. He was so emphatic about his training that he completely ignored (or just didn’t notice) that Katara’s repeated use of ‘oh cool’ was fake.   
I left as soon as Sokka did. I didn’t really want to be around the tension that was permeating from both Aang and Katara. I planned to do the same thing as the day before. It had been so peaceful. I’d be able to talk through my problems with Kyoshi and Nakeh would be here at lunchtime. An extra portion of food was in my sack this time.  
But as I was finally getting into the flow of my one-sided conversation, I heard screams and yells coming from the village. I saw smoke coming from that direction and I figured that it was time to go. The Fire Nation had arrived. I bowed respectfully to Kyoshi’s statue before hurrying away. I grabbed my stuff and threw it all together. It was probably a mess of organization, but I could fix it later. I put it with Katara’s stuff in her room (she’d get it onto Appa for me) and walked down to the road.   
I stood refreshing my lipstick in the middle of the road while Zuko came in on his rhino. I smirked down at the ground before looking up at him with an eyebrow raised. He slid off his rhino and got into a fighting stance. I responded with the same, putting my lipstick in my pocket. He mocked me trying to get a rise out of me.  
“You don’t think you have a chance against me, peasant? You can’t even bend.”  
“No, but I’ve got something you don’t.”  
“No more talking. This bores me.”  
He threw a fireball at me and I blocked it with my sword. He gasped in surprise. I managed to not betray that I had no bloody clue how I did that. I was gonna say that I had determination, but now that I think about it, I guess he had determination too.  
“How? That’s impossible! A sword can’t block a fireball.”  
I decided to roll with it. He didn’t need to know that I had no clue that it was possible either.  
“Impossible’s my middle name dicktwat.”  
He growled and threw some more fireballs. I blocked one and dodged the other two. I ran under his attacks and swiped at his legs. He blocked with a quick spray of fire, but I retaliated quickly. We went back and forth until I caught his left cheek and left a little vertical cut. I stepped back and sheathed my sword. The Kyoshi warriors came out from behind the buildings and fought him and his guards. I was able to run away from the fight. I looked back and searched the Warriors, but I couldn’t see Nakeh. Hopefully, she was safe and not fighting. Sokka was holding his cheek and blushing when I passed him. I grabbed him by his collar and dragged him over to Appa.   
“Hey!” He yelled at me.  
“Suck it up pretty boy. We gotta go. Aang! Let’s move it!”  
“Yip yip!”  
We flew away from the village. Aang looked back with deep regret in his eyes. He dived off Appa and into the water below us. Katara gasped and leaned over the side of the saddle and yelled, “What are you doing?!”  
Several seconds went by before the unagi burst out of the water with Aang clinging onto one of its whiskers. He grabbed hold of both whiskers and forced the Unagi's head towards the burning town of Kyoshi. Aang pulled back on the whiskers and the Unagi spewed water over the town. The stream continued long enough to put out the fires Zuko and his soldiers had lit. The Unagi reared its head and Aang used the momentum to leap back onto Appa.  
“I know, I know. That was stupid and dangerous.”  
He looked down expecting some form of lecture about it from the resident mother of the group.  
“Yes it was,” Katara smiled and hugged him. He returned both the smile and the hug. We flew off away from the village northward. I’d miss that one day where I had peace. I sighed. At least I got one. There’d be no quiet within the coming days.


	8. The City of Omashu

Last Time...

We flew off away from the village. I'd miss that one day where I had peace. I sighed. At least I got one. There'd be no quiet within the coming days.

Flying away from Kyoshi, a deep pit grew in my stomach. I stopped laughing at Sokka's jokes. I just couldn't bring myself to do more than a half smile. Not to say that they were funny. They never were, but I always laughed at his dad jokes. But I just couldn't. I fiddled with my lipstick and watched the clouds pass by. I missed home. My thoughts were interrupted by Katara.

"So, where are we headed next?"

Aang lit up and he explained excitedly.

"We're going to the City of Omashu. I used to go there all the time. It's really close now."

Sokka, the 'voice of reason', ruined the young avatar's excitement.

"We should keep flying. It's barely been a day. Zuko'll be right behind us."

Aang's face fell. Katara sent a glare at Sokka.

"I think we should stop. Appa's gonna get tired anyway. And I want to see Omashu. We've got a big enough lead on Zuko. We can stop in Omashu."

Sokka looked away and huffed. Katara and Aang both grinned.

"Alright then, Omashu, here we come!"

About an hour later, we crested a snow-covered hill and Aang threw his arms out to either side. He yelled out to us in the saddle.

"The Earth Kingdom city of Omashu!"

Appa landed on the top of the hill gently. Omashu was completely different irl. The sheer size was impressive even from that distance. It dwarfed everything around it.

"I used to always come here to visit my friend, Bumi."

I looked over at my companions. Katara and Sokka looked at the earth kingdom city with shock.

"Wow. We don't have cities like this in the South Pole."

Katara's face morphed into excitement. Sokka needed another minute.

"They have buildings here that don't melt!"

"Well, let's go slow pokes! The real fun is inside the city!"

Aang launched himself into the air and landed farther down the hill. Katara clambered down to the ground.

"Wait, Aang! It could be dangerous if people find out you're the Avatar."

Sokka followed Katara down.

"You need a disguise."

"So, what am I supposed to do? Grow a mustache?"

Katara rubbed her chin in thought.

"Maybe not grow a mustache."

She looked over at Appa, then back at Aang with a smug smirk.

"No. No, that's not fair. None of you have to wear a disguise."

"None of us are the Avatar. Come on. Let's get you a disguise."

I slid off Appa and sat on a nearby rock with Sokka as Aang slowly took a bunch of loose hair from Appa's coat and Katara put it in place. Aang kept scratching his head which meant Katara had to realign it.

"Ohh, this is so itchy! How do you live in this stuff?"

Appa grunted at him in response. Sokka turned to look at them.

"Great! Now you look just like my grandfather."

"Technically, Aang is 112 years old."

Aang picked up his staff, spinning it around a bit, and adopted a fake, old man voice.

"Now let's get to skippin', young whippersnappers! The big city awaits."

We walked all the way down to the road at the bottom of the hill and trekked down the long road to the steadily growing city. Bloody hell. It was huge. As we got to the bridge into the city, my eyes were wide open and my mouth was hanging open. I had not been prepared for this massive city. I lagged behind the group a little in my astonishment.

"You guys are gonna love Omashu. The people here are the friendliest in the world."

A rough voice cut through the air. They all stopped short at the sound, and since they were right in front of me, I barely stopped myself from running right into Katara. I looked around her head and saw a merchant and three earth kingdom guards.

"Rotten cabbages! What kind of slum do you think this is?"

The guard in front crushed the cabbage in his hand and knocked those in the merchant's arms over the side of the bridge. The guard then earthbended a lump of the ground, knocking the merchant's cabbage cart high into the air and into the chasm. The cart and all the merchant's cabbages plunged hundreds of feet to the valley floor below. The merchant ran to the side to look after his merchandise.

"Noo! My cabbages!"

No bloody way. A huge smile crept on my face while the rest of the group had anxious looks. It's cabbage guy! It's the cabbage guy!

"Just keep smiling…"

Aang walked forward and I schooled my expression.

Aang walked forward with a big fake smile. Katara tittered uneasily, but she and Sokka followed Aang. I wandered slowly behind them. The guard who just obliterated the cart walked forward to meet Aang. He earthbended a huge boulder out of the ground and held it over Aang's head.

"State your business!"

Aang rushes forward out from under the rock in a move much too sprightly for his supposed age. He pointed an accusing finger at the guard and, using his old man voice, began to speak.

"My business is my business, young man, and none of yours! I've got half a mind to bend you over my knee and paddle your backside!"

The guard dropped the stone behind Aang in surprise. Katara and Sokka both drew back, terrified at what Aang was doing. The guard just held out his hands to appease the angry 'old man.'

"Settle down, old timer. Just tell me who you are."

"Name's Bonzu Pipinpadaloxicopolis, the Third, and these are my grandkids."

Katara walked forward swiftly, now smiling pleasantly.

"Hi, June Pipinpadaloxicopolis. Nice to meet you."

"You seem like a responsible young lady. See that your grandfather stays out of trouble. Enjoy Omashu!"

He stepped out of the way. Katara nodded respectfully towards him.

"We will."

The guard motioned us to pass him. We all walked toward the huge wall. Swiftly walking, I passed Sokka and caught up to Katara easily.

"Wait a minute!"

We all turned around. He had grabbed Sokka, who had this funny terrified look on his face, by the shoulder.

"You're a strong young boy. Show some respect for the elderly and carry your grandfather's bag."

"Good idea!"

Aang threw the bag in question to Sokka. The complex, interlocking stone gate opened up. We all walked forward just marveling at the awesome display. We stopped at a railing close by and looked over to see the city unhindered by a huge wall. The roofs of all the houses were painted in Earth Kingdom green. Then the delivery system. Wow. There are chutes all over the city with crates and packages sliding along them. Aang started to explain to the two siblings.

"This is the Omashu delivery system. Miles and miles of tubes and chutes. Earthbending brings the packages up and gravity brings them down."

Sokka looked unimpressed and raised an eyebrow.

"Great, so they get their mail on time."

"They do get their mail on time, but my friend Bumi found a better use for these chutes…"

He looked off into the distance, remembering a time long past. Katara spoke up, bringing him out of his haze.

"What is it?"

"The world's greatest super slide."

Aang grinned widely and ran away from us. Katara ran after him yelling for him to stop. Sokka made to go after them, but I stood my ground. I was not going on that death trap. Roller coasters were fine on Earth but they had safety features. No way am I going through the mail system like that. Sokka stopped short and looked back at me confused.

"You coming Rei?"

I scrunched up my face and shook my head.

"I'll meet up with you guys later."

He looked back at his sister and Aang who were getting close to being out of sight then back to me.

"Ok… uh, meet us back here in a couple hours."

I nodded once and he ran off after the children. I stood admiring the city from where I was for a minute and walked into the city.

Omashu was bustling and filled with life and energy. Merchants were hollering all kinds of encouragement to buy their wares. Kids chased each other past you (or into you) in rapid succession. You could hear the pounding of the mail system and feel the thumping that was caused by the crates as they fell down. There was a small earthquake every few seconds. How could anyone concentrate here? There were distractions everywhere. I saw a small pop-up tea shop with a gorgeous woman standing behind the stall. I walked over and she gave me a wide eye-wrinkling smile.

"Care for some tea young lady?"

"I would love some. What is your recommendation?"

"My Longjing is delicious."

I nodded my acquiescence. She talked while she made the tea for me.

"I got it from a merchant in the Fire Nation colonies. However horrible the Fire Nation's actions are, they've got good tea."

"That is definitely true. Good tea can come from anywhere, just like good people."

"An interesting perspective for one so young."

She handed me a tiny tin cup full of what looked to be delicious tea.

"It'll take a minute to steep, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

I passed the cup into my left hand and started to fish around for the money. She shook her head.

"No, you take it. Sharing tea with fascinating strangers is one of life's true delights."

I furrowed my eyebrows slightly at that remark. Isn't that what Iroh says to Toph later?

"I know someone who has said that exact thing to me. How peculiar."

She must be a member of the White Lotus. I looked knowingly into her eyes. She smiled back at me.

"You must've met him at the Garden gate."

"I ate the fruit and tasted its mysteries."

She bowed to me and I to her.

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

"And you as well."

I took a sip of my tea. Flavors that I could not recognize burst on my tongue in a delectable array of sweet and bitter. I sighed in satisfaction.

"You were right. This tea is delicious. Thank you. Where would one find the palace?"

She proceeded to point me in a difficult list of directions and I knew I'd have to ask many people over the course of the walk if I was going the right way.

"Why do you need to go to the palace? If I may ask."

"I have a suspicion that my friends will end up there. They're a bunch of troublemakers."

She threw her head back laughing heartily.

"They're lucky to have such a good friend looking after them. Safe travels."

"Safe travels."

I bowed my head and walked down the road. Well, that was an interesting encounter.

As I suspected, I stopped at almost every intersection to ask where to find the palace. When I eventually made it to the palace, I was stopped at the entrance by two earth kingdom soldiers. They put their spears in an x in front of me.

"What business do you have with the king?"

"Did you see two water tribe teenagers and a little bald kid being dragged in here for general destruction and mayhem?"

The guards drew back surprised.

"Yes."

I sighed.

"Yeah, those are my friends. I'd like to go see the king so maybe he can be more lenient with them. They're only kids. Though Aang can act like the literal devil sometimes."

They looked between each other and brought their spears back to their sides.

"You may pass."

"Thank you."

I did a slight head bow in thanks and steadily strided into the palace. I strode through a long hallway and into the throne room. King Bumi was chomping on a lettuce leaf, but he paused when he saw me. I looked around and the gang was nowhere to be found.

"Now, what are you doing here?"

"I was looking for my friends. Though, it seems I've just missed them. And they didn't even finish their feast."

I walked over to the table and sat in the middle seat directly across from the king. I started cutting into the chicken leg that Aang had left.

"Ah, you must be Rei."

"That's right."

I took a sip of the water that was before me.

"Your friends are fine. I've sent them to the newly refurbished chamber. Aang will be staying for a day longer. Would you like to go to your friend's chamber?"

I paused in my separation of the meat from the chicken bone.

"Well, I don't want them to worry, but I have been walking all day and I'd love to have some peace and quiet."

I stabbed a piece of chicken and slowly chewed it. Thank anything that is holy or spiritual in this world. Perfectly cooked meat. Kyoshi's meat pies were fine, but this was really good chicken.

"You'll have the good chamber then."

I swallowed.

"Thank you King Bumi. I'd expect nothing less from Aang's childhood friend."

He cackled, snorting a couple times. I smiled pleasantly and took another bite of chicken.

"Well, aren't you perceptive?"

I smiled into my cup while I took a swig of water. I didn't respond and simply continued eating. Bumi kept looking at me with slight suspicion, but also a far bit of amusement. I gave back just as much with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. He guffawed and we ate in silence. Once I was done, I stood up.

"Thank you for an excellent meal King Bumi. My compliments to your chef."

"I'll be sure to send the message. Please show young Rei to her chamber."

I respectfully gave him a head bow and followed the guard out of the room. Indeed the chamber was very good. It wasn't a particularly large room, but it had a huge window seat that showed the entire city. The bed took up most of the remaining space. I flopped onto said bed and curled up into the soft covers. Even though I was a bit nervous about what tomorrow held for me, it did not take long for me to fall asleep.

A/N: Sorry about the tad bit of delay with this chapter. This week, I’ve been having a lot of trouble writing, but I think I’m getting back into the swing of it. Thanks to everyone who’s read my story. It really means a lot that people actually want to read my horribly cliche wish-fulfillment. I hope you enjoy the longer chapter. I’m trying to be better about that.


	9. King Bumi

Last Time…  
I flopped onto the bed and curled up into the soft covers. Even though I was a bit nervous about what tomorrow held for me, it did not take long for me to fall asleep. 

I awoke to the loud boom of the stone wall opening into my chamber. A gruff voice called out, “It’s time to get up. King Bumi requests your presence.”  
I blinked the sleep from my eyes and groggily sat up. Two earth kingdom guards were standing at the opening. I grabbed my bag and swung it onto my back, standing as I did so.  
“You won’t need that,” One of the guards said. I dropped the bag, stepped over it and past the guards. I walked out of the room and they followed. I stood there impatiently tapping my foot as they closed up the entrance again.  
“Right this way.”  
I followed them through the castle, casually looking out the windows as we passed. The sunlight was very dim, but I couldn’t see the sun in the east. It wasn’t until we passed through an open-roofed section of the palace that I realised why. The sun was almost covered by the horizon to the west.  
“Did I sleep in?” I asked, looking up at the darkening sky. The guards didn’t even look back.  
“King Bumi instructed us to let you sleep as long as you wanted. He said you needed your rest,” One of them said.  
“Hmm. That was nice of him,” I mused. Very nice of him for someone he’s never met before now. Ah well. I’ll just take advantage of it. I got another surprise when we reached our destination. The two guards went off to the side and I got a full view of a huge banquet table, full of food. The table last night had nothing on this one and there was so much food. There were numerous guards, in various states of uniform, sitting and eating. The ones who had escorted me strode over to a group who laughed and hollered at their friends. And I could see another group of chatting guards approaching the supposed dining hall from the hallway on the other side. I hesitated before taking an empty seat on the far end of the table, away from all the guards.  
Sure, I was in another world, but my social anxiety wasn’t going away anytime soon.  
I ate a decent amount. Once I got going, it was pretty hard to stop. With all my planning and preparation, we still had rough patches for food. Yes, I'm saying Sokka ate everything before I could explain how to ration it all. The more I ate, the more I realized that I was absolutely starving. I’d just grabbed another leg of unknown meat when I heard a high-pitched yell from behind me.  
“Rei?!?!??”  
I didn’t even have enough time to turn around before being engulfed in a bear hug by a tiny person. When I looked down, the arms had light blue arrows tattoos which confirmed my suspicions. I sighed.  
“Hi Aang. Can I have my body back?”  
The only response was only a harder squeeze which actually started to hurt.  
“Aang? I can’t breathe!” I gasped out and was finally released. But I barely was able to catch my breath before I was then whipped around to face the distraught Avatar. He wrapped his arms back round me a bit more gently. At least it was before Katara and Sokka joined in. In the end, I was trapped in a very tightly packed Gaang sandwich.  
“Aww guys. You didn’t have to worry about me. I’m bigger and smarter than you lot,” I smirked and patted the tops of their heads. That patronizing behaviour caused Aang to airbend himself out of the huddle.  
“Hey! You’re not smarter than us!” He whined with the most adorable angry face. He even tried pointing his staff at me threateningly, but it just made me smile wider.  
“No comeback for the other one I see,” I teased. “And you guys got arrested. I walked around the city, bought a cup of tea and politely asked King Bumi to see my friends.”  
Katara released her hold on me and gasped, “You knew that the King was Aang’s friend and you didn’t think to mention it?!”  
“Yeah, he trapped us in jennamite and forced Aang to do these dangerous challenges!” Sokka cried emphatically, gesticulating widely. I folded my arms and furrowed my brows.  
“He trapped you in jennamite!” I exclaimed angrily.  
“I know! We were nearly completely encased by the time Aang figured it out.”  
I groaned in disappointment, “Lucky! I want to be encased in jennamite. Imagine eating your way out of it. It would keep growing back and you’d have an endless supply of candy!”  
“Wait, how did you know it was rock candy?!” Katara demanded.  
“Gran Gran’s told us about King Bumi of Omashu and his penchant for trickery. And his great love of jennamite rock candy. Seriously though, do you have any left? I really want to try it.” I pleaded. The gang all shook their heads. Thankfully, neither of the siblings called out my blatant lie. Gran Gran never told us about Omashu. She did talk about Ba Sing Se, so the risk of them realizing I was lying was small. And it evidently paid off cause they didn’t question it at all.  
And a giant chunk of rock clocked me on the back of the head.  
“Owww!” I yelled, clutching my head. I spun around and found the King standing at the other entrance with a sheepish look on his face.  
“What was that for?”  
“I thought you would catch it. Sorry about that then Rei. Why don’t we all eat dinner then?”  
Both Aang and Sokka ran, jumped onto a bench and respectively stuffed an apple and a leg of meat in their mouths. Katara followed and gently sat a meter away from the hungry maniacs.  
“Thank you King Bumi,” she said, bowing her head slightly.  
“Come on, Rei. Sit down. You have to tell us about what you did yesterday and today,” Aang beckoned after taking a huge bite out of a sandwich. I smiled and sat in between Sokka and Katara.  
“It’s not very exciting. I walked around the city yesterday, got a cup of tea and slept the day away today. I only woke up about an hour ago.”  
Sokka’s jaw dropped. A bit of his sandwich dropped out of his mouth eliciting a disgusted sound from both Katara and me.  
“You got to sleep until an hour ago?!?!” Sokka’s whine got higher and higher as he went on.  
“That’s not fair! We had to wake up at the crack of dawn! I was still yawning by the time Aang had to do his third challenge.”  
“Well, maybe you shouldn’t just go along with Aang’s master plan of causing mischief and mayhem. And I didn’t get arrested.”  
Apparently, our conversation was very entertaining because many of the guards I had seen making jokes with each other when I entered the room were now staring at our little group and struggling to keep in their laughter.  
As I made this observation, Sokka was muttering to himself, “Stupid guards. Get arrested. You get arrested.” His volume went up as he apparently came up with the perfect comeback. “Well, you had no fun. We got to ride the mail system. You got a cup of tea.”  
“Is that a challenge Sokka?”  
The whole hall was silent, looking at Sokka.  
“Yes.”  
The communal staring shifted back to me. I smirked, “I accept.”  
The whole hall exploded into raucous laughter and whoops.  
“However!”  
My voice pierced through the crowd, silencing it instantly.  
“I want Aang or an earthbender with me cause I don’t fancy dying just yet.”  
As quickly as the cheering had stopped, it started again. Aang and Sokka joined in hollering loudly and jumping in excitement with some of the guards. Smiling eyes trained on Aang, Katara kept sitting with her hands over her ears. I grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the room with me. We kept running until we couldn’t hear the commotion anymore. I let go of her hand and, panting like dogs, we both collapsed onto the ground.  
“Thanks Rei. Boys are so weird.”  
I chuckled, “Yeah, but it’s kinda adorable how excited they get.” I turned on my side and smirked at her. “And don’t think I didn’t see those puppy eyes that you had pointed at Aang.”  
Her cheeks bloomed into a rosy red. She stuttered, “Wha- no. I wasn’t-”  
I laughed and tackled her into a rolling hug. She got me off quickly and I fell over on my back, cackling loudly.  
“You’ve got a crush.” I sang, pointing a teasing finger at the blushing girl.  
“Shut up.” She muttered. I just laughed and skipped away to my chambers.

The Next Morning  
The general consensus was that I’d love it and want to go multiple times. By the time I actually got to the top of the starting chute, there was a line of various earthbender guards with Aang and Bumi at the very front.  
“Are you kidding? Guys, I hate to disappoint you, but this is terrifying. I’m not gonna want to go again.”

I loved it so much that there were many repeats of the line with many more newcomers as the day went on. Everyone was trying to top each other. One of the palace guards, who usually was stationed outside the royal library, actually managed to do a loop-the-loop in thin air with a well calculated push at the right time. I got terrible motion sickness after a while and was thankful when lunch came so I could completely clear my mouth of the taste of sick.  
In the afternoon, I declined going again in favor of watching from our covered table set-up. Of course I didn’t have to worry about disappointing anyone because Katara, Sokka and all the non-earthbending guards took my place as the rider. Bumi and I watched from our lofty perch and actually started scoring benders. We both agreed it was unfair for Aang to be a part of it. Our winner was a wall guard, Halin, who maneuvered the crate all over the city and did several impressive aerial stunts. 

We spent two more days in Omashu. From the newly made window in my chambers, I watched Aang and Bumi dash around the city through the mail system. I took advantage of our luxurious amenities and took frequent naps between meals and explorations of the city with the gang.

On the night before our departure, I finally gathered enough courage to ask, “King Bumi, would it be alright if I spoke with you privately? I just want to ask you for some personal advice. Nothing horrible or anything.”  
“Why do you need to talk to him?” Aang asked, his eyebrows raising suspiciously.  
“That’s none of your business Aang. She said it was personal. I’d expect you to respect that.” Bumi responded before I could get a word in. He eyed me and I just sat there looking shocked.  
“Of course you can Rei,” Bumi smiled. “I have just the place. Please excuse us.”  
He led me to a separate balcony and waved the guards away.  
“What’s on your mind, Rei?”  
I scoffed a little, amused.  
“Well, lots of things, but I specifically wanted to ask you about something: Something that might make me seem very suspicious.”  
Bumi smiled.  
“Ask away, young one. There’s little that can surprise me at this age.”  
I swallowed my fear and stated, “I know about the White Lotus.”  
Bumi paused and looked out over the cityscape of Omashu. He cackled before saying, “Maybe I should rethink my earlier phrase because I have had two impressive surprises within three days. Any point to asking how?”  
That was not the reaction I thought I’d get. I stuttered, “Uh, um… no.”  
“So, what’s your question?”  
He turned and peered at me intensely. I bit my lip.  
“I wanna join. I don’t know how everything works, but I’d like to.”  
Bumi thought about that for a moment.  
“Hmm...We don’t usually allow outsiders to become initiates.”  
I rushed, “I’ll do whatever you ask of me.”  
Bumi smiled.  
“Well… since you’re traveling with the Avatar, I’m not sure if we have time to perform the full initiation.”  
“I happen to know for a fact that we will meet other members on the road. If there’s a way that we can split the initiation into parts, that might be the way to go.”  
Bumi looked at me with skepticism evident in his eyes, but nodded, “The first step is a separation from the mortal realm and entering the spirit world through meditation. And you have to stay there for 8 days continuously. I suggest meditating frequently and practicing, but you shouldn’t enter the spirit world until a member can look after you. The spirit world isn’t the pleasantest of places. Though, it does usually take a while before an initiate is able to enter the spirit world.”  
I nodded.  
“I understand.”  
Bumi took me through my first ever true meditation right then and there.  
The next day, Bumi handed me a White Lotus Pai Sho piece with the parting words, “May you find peace and acceptance in every nation.”

As we walked away from Omashu, Aang asked, “So, what’d you guys think of Omashu?”  
“It was awesome! So much good food!” Sokka exclaimed. Katara and I snickered. “What? It was good food!”  
“I thought it was a wonderful city, Aang. It was nice to meet one of your old friends.”  
At the mention of Bumi, Aang beamed, “Bumi’s great! What about you Rei?”  
I smirked and thought about my new connections and power.  
“It was a very productive side trip. It was definitely worthwhile to go to Omashu.”

A/N: So sorry for the time it’s taken to actually get this out. Online college started and that’s been eating up a lot of my energy. I’ll try to get the next chapter out sooner this time.


	10. The Devastation of the Fire Nation

Last Time…  
I smirked and thought about my new connections and power.  
“It was a very productive side trip. It was definitely worthwhile to go to Omashu.”

My growling stomach calmed a little as I focused on the ripples in the little stream that passed by our camp. My fingertips lightly flitted over the surface of the water. Tiny mismatched rocks decorated the bottom of the clear stream. A school of tadpoles traveled past. The sound of someone huffing made me look up. Walking past my little perch, Sokka was practically dragging himself into camp with what looked like an empty bag.   
Aang jumped up and over to Sokka, asking, “Great. You’re back. What’s for dinner?”  
Sokka sighed, “We’ve got a few options. First, round nuts and some kind of oval-shaped nuts. And some rock-shaped nuts that might just be nuts.” He grabbed examples out of the bag to show us. Katara stared at the ‘nut’ in her hand blankly.  
“Seriously, What else you got?” She asked. Sokka opened the bag up to the two. The synchronous falling of their faces told me everything I needed to know about what was in that bag.  
BOOM  
A loud boom echoed through the forest. I sat up so fast that I got black spots in my vision. I rubbed my eyes and blinked a couple times.  
“What was that?” Sokka blanched.  
BOOM  
I jumped to my feet and spun around trying to find the source of the boom.  
“It’s coming from over there.” Aang pointed before running off in that direction. Katara followed him without any hesitation. I pursed my lips at their recklessness, but ran after them and drew my sword.  
“Shouldn’t we run away from huge booms, not toward them?” Sokka pleaded behind us.  
I yelled over my shoulder, “C’mon Sokka!”   
I threw my sword out to the side and lopped a chuck out of every tree we passed, creating a trail for us to follow to get back to camp. Sokka was a faster runner than me and quickly overtook me. Thankfully, the source wasn’t so far away that I lost sight of the gang. I crouched behind the same fallen tree as the rest of them. In a small ravine, a young man was lifting rocks and punching them into the stone wall with earthbending. I smiled. Haru was a nice person. I was kinda looking forward to meeting him.  
“An earthbender!” Katara gaped.  
“Let’s go meet him!” Aang added excitedly.   
Ever the tactical one, Sokka cautioned, “He looks dangerous, so we better approach cautiously.”   
Katara was already out in front of the log and greeted Haru.  
“Hello there! I’m Katara. What’s your name?”  
Haru gasped at the sight of her and dropped his boulder. I leapt out from behind the log.  
“We’re not going to turn you in to the Fire Nation. Please don’t-”  
It was too late. Haru ran away swiftly causing a small avalanche in his wake. Aang and Sokka joined us girls in the middle of the ravine.  
“Nice to meet you!” Aang yelled. For some reason, I doubted that Haru actually heard that.  
“I just wanted to say hi.” Katara shrugged.   
I rolled my eyes and reasoned, “Maybe you should’ve approached him more cautiously like Sokka said.”  
“Ha!”  
“Don’t let that go to your head Sokka. I still think you’re an idiot most of the time.”  
Aang burst out, “Hey guys! That guy’s gotta be running somewhere. Maybe we’re near a village. And I bet that village has a market.”   
“Which means no nuts for dinner!” Katara cheered.   
For the second time within 15 minutes, Aang and Katara ran off into a strange direction with no thought of how to get back. I sighed and Sokka whined beside me,“Hey! I worked hard to get those nuts!”   
I clapped him on the back and reassured,“It’s ok Sokka. We’ll save them for when we might need them again.” Then I ran off after our younger friends, creating the same trail as before.

Immediately as we walked in the village, I noticed the depressing atmosphere. Whether people were sitting or standing, their eyes were downcast and drooping. The few who were talking were monotone. My companions didn’t seem to notice, instead rushing for the food stalls. I idled in the portal of the town, taking in the scene, and felt disheartened.   
The show had never shown us this part: the completely blank expressions in people’s faces; their dead eyes; or the lackluster way the kids played like they already knew their future was hopeless. I knew that we’d free this village, but there were many more just like it. The Fire Nation can’t fuel all their ships with one village.   
I dragged my feet forward to follow my ignorant friends into Haru’s house, catching the beginning of the conversation.  
“Uh, you must have me confused with some other kid.”   
Aang called him out in his lie, “No, she doesn’t. We saw you earthbending.”  
Haru’s mother ran past me, closing all the doors and windows.  
“They saw you doing what?” She hissed angrily, turning on Haru.  
Haru held out his arms in defense and argued, “They’re crazy Mom! Just look at how they’re dressed!”   
My friends all adjusted their outfits nervously while I stared unimpressed at the boy. Obviously, Haru’s mother wasn’t an idiot and she fumed, “You know how dangerous that is. You know what would happen if they caught you earthbending.”  
Loud knocking came from outside the door and a gruff voice demanded, “Open up.”  
Sokka peered through the window, paled, and whispered, “Fire Nation! Act natural.”  
I turned to the wall and grabbed a fruit from one of the baskets and pretended to be weighing it in my hand as Haru's mother opened the door. The Fire Nation tax collector walked inside. He scrutinized the four children in front of him who were in the most unnatural poses I could imagine. Aang even fell into the barrel he had been leaning on.   
“What do you want? I already paid you this week.” Haru’s mother demanded, her hands on her hips. The tax collector just smirked.  
“The tax just doubled. And we wouldn’t want an accident, would we?” He grinned and created a small flame in his hand manipulating it around intimidatingly.  
“Fire is sometimes so hard to control.”   
He put out the fire and arrogantly turned to the woman. She led him to the counter and passed him all the coins that were left in her chest. Haru made his way to the counter and stared with contempt at the man.  
“You can keep the copper ones.” He sneered and dropped them on the floor. One rolled all the way over to my feet. All Fire Nation soldiers left the house and Haru’s mother bent to pick up the coins. I reached down to the one next to me and handed it to the despairing woman with a somber expression.  
“Nice guy.” Sokka muttered. “How long has the Fire Nation been here?”   
“Five years. Fire Lord Ozai uses our town’s coal mines to fuel his ships.” Haru’s mother explained.  
Tightening his grip on the edge of the counter, Haru snapped, “They’re thugs. They steal from us. And everyone here’s too much of a coward to do anything about it.”   
“Quiet Haru! Don’t talk like that!” Haru’s mother chastised.  
“But Haru’s an earthbender. He can help.” Katara exclaimed naively, thinking it to be the most obvious solution.  
“Earthbending is forbidden. It’s caused nothing but misery for this village! He must never use his abilities.”  
But Katara still didn’t understand and stepped forward, positing, “But Haru has a gift. Asking him not to earthbend is like asking me not to waterbend. It’s a part of who we are.”   
Haru’s mother shook her head and sighed, “You don’t understand.”  
“I understand that Haru can help you fight back. What can the Fire Nation do to you that they haven’t done already?” Katara challenged.   
“They could take Haru away. Like they took his father.”   
Katara gasped and went silent. I stepped forward and stated, “We’re sorry for the trouble. We don’t want to make matters worse for you. We’re trying to survive in this horrible world, just like you are. But I imagine you’ve lost more than we have. I don’t want you to think we pity you, but we’re sorry for your loss. I’m sure your husband was a great man.”  
The old woman’s eyes softened a bit.  
“Thank you. You’re very kind. Where are you headed? You must be travelers to have not known about the Fire Nation’s presence here.”  
“We’re headed to the Northern Water Tribe. We’re trying to find Katara a teacher.” Aang spoke up.   
Haru’s mother nodded, “Well, I can’t do much to help. I can give you shelter until you decide to move on, but money’s so tight that I can’t spare any food for you if we’re to make it through the winter.”  
I bowed my head. “That’s more than we could’ve asked for. Thank you for your kindness.”

We left the shop shortly after and wandered around town a bit. We went back around dinnertime and the pair led us to their house. Haru’s mother went into their house to start preparing their dinner and Haru took us to their barn.  
“My mom said you can sleep here tonight. But you should leave in the morning.”  
It was a cozy little barn. It would be fine for the night. Appa already walked in and made himself home by helping himself to the hay.  
“Thanks.” Aang winced, “I’ll make sure Appa doesn’t eat all your hay.”  
Appa turned to Aang and stopped chewing for a moment, then resumed just as quickly. I smiled and walked up to the huge furry beast. I unstrapped the saddle and stepped out of the way. Appa turned his body and the saddle fell to the ground. I moved everyone’s stuff out of it and spread out my sleeping bag. Then I face planted onto it.  
Haru asked, “It’s only dinnertime. Why are you going to sleep?”   
My right eyebrow creeping up my forehead, I raised my head and deadpanned, “So?”  
I released the isolated movement and plopped my head back down.   
Sokka slapped his hand on Haru’s shoulder and laughed, “Don’t worry about her. She sleeps all the time.”  
“Oh.”  
There was some shuffling and scuffing then silence. Ah, comforting silence.   
A cough here.  
A shuffle of feet there.  
A small gust of the wind.  
Peace.  
Sokka and Aang were completely silent and, even as I knew that Aang was playing with his airbending, I couldn’t even hear it. Sokka was probably eating his portion of our dinner. Oh oops. I forgot about dinner. Eh. One extra portion for us later.

“They took him!”  
I jerked up at Katara’s sudden declaration. I hurriedly brushed my hair out of my face.   
“Huh?”  
“They took Haru away!”  
I rubbed my eyes and blinked away the blurriness.  
“Wha-”  
“The old man turned him into the Fire Nation. It’s all my fault. I forced him into earthbending!”  
Sokka, who was already up and folding up his sleeping bag, walked over to his panicking sister and calmly asked, “Slow down, Katara. When did this happen?”  
“Haru’s mother said they came for him at midnight.”  
Sokka ruefully looked out the barn door at the open sea.  
“Then it’s too late to track him. He’s long gone.”  
Katara turned towards the door and clenched her fists. She growled, “We don’t need to track him. The Fire Nation is going to take me right to Haru.”  
Aang asked, “And… why would they do that?”  
“Because they’re going to arrest me for earthbending.”  
She stomped out of the barn. Sokka and Aang exchanged nervous looks before following her. I rolled my eyes and fell back onto my blanket. After a long arduous process of waking myself up, I went over to Haru’s house and found Haru’s mother rocking slightly in a rocking chair, humming to herself. I slowly approached her. She didn’t acknowledge me even as I ended up right in front of her. I knelt down and took her hands in mine. She blinked a couple times and looked down at her hands.  
“Everything’s going to be alright. I promise you. You’ll see your son again.”  
Her humming stopped. I bit my lip. I didn’t want to break her. Losing her son made her very fragile and I couldn’t let her break herself apart.  
“I know it seems hopeless right now, but Aang is the Avatar and we’re going to do all we can to get him back.”  
She lifted her head a bit.  
“Your friend is... the Avatar?”  
I chuckled, “Doesn’t look it, does he?”   
She breathed out a small laugh and nodded. I gripped her hands tight.  
“We’ll get your son back,” I promised.  
She looked into my eyes. I had mine set in a determined stare. This seems to satisfy her and she nodded. I bowed my head and left, looking for my friends. It took me a while to find them. I checked in the barn, in the town, near the front entrance to the mines and found nothing. I shrugged and started wandering the town some more. I ended up sitting on the edge of the docks and just waiting. Eventually, they’d show up. That was a part of their plan anyways.  
And as I predicted, Sokka and Aang walked past me with terrible disguises. Aang was strutting and holding his chest up, contorting his body weirdly. Sokka was hunched over on a cane and moaning loudly with each step. I shook my head at their antics. They were horrible at sneaking. Neither of them were Slytherins, that’s for sure. I started walking behind them.  
“Hey guys. Where’s Katara?” I asked nonchalantly. Aang literally jumped ten feet into the air, losing his hat disguise in the process. Sokka dropped his cane and turned around in a horrible fighting pose. My hand flew up to my face and I rubbed my forehead in disappointment. Seriously, I needed to teach these guys some stealth. Sokka brushed himself off.  
“Oh Rei, it’s you. Don’t sneak up on us like that.”  
“My apologies, Sokka, I’ll let you keep walking around in those terrible disguises next time and not decide to help you in whatever foolish and brash rescue plan you have.”  
“Hey! It’s not foolish or brass!” Sokka exclaimed. I smirked and shook my head. God these kids were… well... kids.   
“Well what is your plan then? Please inform me of this brilliant plan of yours.” I implored, waving my hands about all fancy-like. Sokka and Aang shrunk back and exchanged nervous looks. Although I already knew what the plan was, I wanted them to tell me themselves. Sokka and Aang started fighting to stand behind the other one. I rubbed between my eyes.  
“Honestly…”  
And I didn’t even get to finish that thought because Aang airbended Sokka into me, tipping us both over onto the ground. I pushed Sokka off me and stood. I glared at the withering monk. Then, I took a breath and smiled at him.   
“Aang, tell me what the plan is. I just need you guys to tell me so I can help.” I cooed holding a teeth-rotting smile plastered on my face. Aang held his hands behind his back.  
“Well, um, we- kinda… got Katara… arrested.”   
I blinked a couple of times at Aang, pretending to not understand what he was saying. Then I gritted my teeth together.  
“You… thought it was a good idea to purposefully get Katara arrested by the Fire Nation.”  
“Um… well it was Katara’s idea.”   
“Aang, that doesn’t make it better! You should have brains of your own. You’re the Avatar! I know you’ve been in the ice for a hundred years, but that does not excuse you from not having basic common sense!” I stormed and stomped over to the edge of the dock. As harsh as it was, especially for a 12 year-old, Aang needed to learn as early as possible that his actions had consequences. If we messed this plan up, Katara could be found out and taken. Then Aang would be found out as well. And it would be my fault because everything worked out fine in the show.  
“Sorry Rei…”  
Aang’s tone was heartbreaking. No… I shouldn’t have done that. He’d learn eventually even without my involvement. I turned and grasped Aang into a hug.  
“I’m sorry Aang. I’m just worried about Katara. I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”  
“It’s ok Rei. I messed up.”  
“No! Don’t talk like that. You did fine. I know that Katara always seems like she knows what she’s doing. Just, sometimes, you can’t blindly follow. Everyone makes mistakes, even me. We’re going to get Katara out of this together.” I squeezed tighter for a second and leaned into the hug even more. Aang reciprocated and I smiled gently.  
“Hey! Where’s my love?” Sokka interjected from the side. I whipped my head to him and dragged him into the love huddle. Aang started laughing and I joined in. Sokka huffed, but wrapped his arms around both of us. After a couple seconds, I started to detach myself. Aang and Sokka didn’t seem to want to let go.  
“Alright. Alright, c’mon guys.”  
We stepped away from each other. However, at least to me, it felt like we were more connected than ever. I smiled and commanded, “Let’s go get her. If possible, we’ll get Haru as well, but Katara’s the main priority. Lead the way.”


	11. Prison Breakout

Last Time...  
“Let’s go get her. If possible, we’ll get Haru as well, but Katara’s the main priority. Lead the way.”

Sitting firm against the cold ocean air, we waited on Katara and Aang at the north end of the rig. Aang had to venture into the rig to get Katara and Haru since they had apparently never told her where to meet us again, so Sokka and I were just silently hugging each other for warmth.   
With my eyes pointed towards the rig, I scanned the fortifications and found very little. Obviously, the Fire Nation was very arrogant about their strength and ability. The only major issue was the spotlight that kept circling the edge of the rig. Sokka and I held our breath everytime it got close, swaying back and forth across the water next to us and scaring some fish from the area. Thankfully, it only passed by us twice, slightly missing us both times, before Aang flipped through the air onto Appa. Katara trailed behind him and she stayed put on the rig instead of jumping down onto Appa.  
“Your twelve hours are up. Where’s Haru? We’ve gotta get outta here!” Sokka whispered loudly. Katara’s jaw tightened and she raised her gaze with determination set on her face.  
“I can’t.”  
Aang jumped back from the front seat and asked, “Katara, what’s wrong?”  
“I’m not leaving.”  
I bit my lip nervously. This was going to be a very dangerous situation.  
“What do you mean Katara?” I asked, squinting my eyes in anxiousness. Katara shifted her gaze to mine and I saw the inner fire of the passionate waterbender burning in them. Nothing would stop her. I knew that. She knew that I knew that. I’m pretty sure that I knew that she knew that I knew that. (sorry I’ll stop XD)  
“I’m not giving up on these people.”   
“What do you mean you’re not leaving?” Sokka cried.  
“Shh!” I hissed. Even with the rig’s low level of security, we couldn’t afford to give away our element of surprise.  
“We can’t abandon these people! There has to be a way to help them.” Katara insisted.  
“Maybe she’s right.” Aang agreed, before turning his hopeful eyes on Sokka “What do you say, Sokka?”  
“I say you’re both crazy! Back me up on this Rei!”   
Sokka turned to me expectantly. I bit my lip nervously and winced as I conceded, “I think we should at least try, but we’ve gotta do this cautiously so we get it right.”  
Sokka flung his head into his hands and groaned, “I hate it when you two get like this. C’mon, we’d better hide.” We all climbed up off Appa, who flew off into the night after some quick instructions from Aang. I held them back from leaving the area and we hid inside an empty crate with an open latch as the two guards that I knew were coming rounded the corner.  
I whispered to the group, “Sokka, I need you to knock one of them out. I don’t care how you do it, but do it fast. Katara, you need to freeze the other in place with waterbending. We need information.” They nodded.  
“I don’t know about this...” Aang mumbled. I put a hand on his shoulder.   
“I know Aang. But I don’t want us to fail before we even start. We need to get this right.” I comforted and dragged him into a quick hug. I let go quickly and turned back to the moonlit walkway.  
As the guards looked up at Appa flying away, the water tribe siblings pounced on their prey. It went off without a hitch and I stepped out onto the walkway. The guard that was frozen took a big breath in preparation for a yell, but Katara froze his mouth shut. I narrowed my eyes and grabbed the unconscious one. Frozen guard’s eyes widened in fear and I let a small smirk grow. I shook the guy and drew my sword against his throat threateningly.  
“Now that I have your attention. You’re going to answer my questions and do as I say, or I’ll slit this guy’s throat right here and now. Then, I’ll kill you too.” I growled. Then I smiled sweetly. “Understand?”  
The guy blinked furiously and, if the watering of his eyes was any indication, he understood very well.   
“Let him speak.” I commanded. Katara hesitated, so I turned a glare on her. The ice melted and flowed away from his mouth.  
“Now, is this the captain?”  
He gulped and mumbled, “No, I’m the captain.”  
I hummed and thought about it for a moment. My plan was shaky at best, so it would have been better just to have the captain unconscious from the start. Oh well. I dropped the body and whacked the captain on the back of the head. It slumped forward against his icy confines.  
“Alright, there are vents all around this place. At the heart of them is a large amount of coal. Katara and Sokka need to guard the vent in the middle of the prison yard while Aang shoots up the coal from the core through that specific vent. I’ll be making my way inside and making sure they don’t know you’re there until they need to. I’ll also cut off their communications. If word gets out that the Avatar is here, our journey could swiftly come to an end. Also, Katara, how long does your ice last?”  
“I’m not sure.”  
“Will it allow him to float?”  
“Sure.”  
I grinned and stepped around to face the ice-encased man towards the sea.  
“Hey! What are you doing? I can’t swim!”  
My eyebrow raised of its own accord.  
“Maybe we shouldn’t…” Aang started, but I cut him off, deadpanning, “You’re the captain of an ocean prison rig. I don’t believe that for a second. And I figure you’ll have at least an hour before that ice melts to figure something out.”  
Splash!  
The ice did exactly what I expected. It floated with the captain still trapped inside. I smirked at the fearful, wild eyes of the Fire Nation captain. All the families of the earthbenders held here were going to get their revenge. This was only the beginning.  
“Alright, get moving guys. We’re racing against the sun’s movements.”  
I heard quick footfalls behind me as the kids ran to do their parts in this mad rescue plan. My face dropped into my hands for a second and I stared after the ice block. A pang of regret weighed heavy on my heart.  
It’s not as if I’m evil or anything. That threat was mainly for show so there wouldn’t be any problems with the captain. If he had called my bluff and yelled for help, we’d have been done for. I sucked on my bottom lip and sighed. The earth kingdom village also did a number on my psyche. I could see the depression and hopelessness seeping through the air. It hurt so much more to see the utter despair that the Fire Nation caused in real life and to realize how my mind had completely forgotten their pain from the show. I wanted to make the Fire Nation pay.   
I looked down at the Fire Nation guy still lying unconscious on the walkway. He needed to be dealt with. Rolling up my sleeves, I dragged him off the path and into an empty crate. I stripped off his armor, thankfully he was wearing other clothes under, and put them on. Surprisingly, they fit pretty well. Though, there was a weird part around the crotch. I exited the crate and flipped down the latch to keep the guy in if he woke before our plan could go off.  
Adjusting my helmet so I could actually see out the visor, I went back to the outer walkway and kept walking it. It’s entirely possible that someone would set off an alarm if a patrol didn’t come back. I’d walk the path and find an entrance. For that part of the plan, I assumed that there was a main entrance that the guards went back in after patrolling. It would be the most convenient thing.  
My prayers were answered because when I rounded the corner to the east edge of the rig, there was a big dock and huge double door with a single guard. I didn’t stop walking, but took a deep breath in preparation for my deception.   
“Soldier! Where’s the captain? You were the one on patrol with him, correct?”  
“I- um.” I squeaked. I coughed and cleared my throat. I needed to make my voice lower.   
“Speak up soldier!”  
“He got sick. Over the side. He told me to leave him alone and let him deal with it. I guess the seasickness finally caught up to him.” I guffawed and threw my head back laughing a bit. The guard drew back with worry.  
“Oh. I hope he’s alright.”  
I waved a hand dismissively.  
“I’m sure he’s fine. He’s the captain. I’m sure he just told me to go on without him so he wouldn’t have to show any weakness. You know how it is.”  
“Yeah… yeah. Right. Alright, go on in and get some rest.”  
He opened the door and I bowed my head slightly before walking into the main prison. The door fell closed behind me and a smug smirk unconsciously formed on my face. He bought it so darn easily. I shook away the triumph of the moment. No time to lose. I strided further into the belly of the beast. I passed a couple of guards stationed at different doorways and the mess hall with a smattering of soldiers eating midnight snacks.   
Even the warden crossed paths with me. I recognized his face from the show. It was pretty hard to miss. He didn’t even take a glance at me. He just strolled right past my person, terrified and frozen in a small bow, and on into a different section of the rig. Guess he was the kind of boss who didn’t even notice the employees beneath him. Good news for me. I chuckled a little and moved on.  
A couple of sneaky (and risky) rounds around the rig later and I learned my way around and found the communications room on the sixth floor. On my second round, I actually managed to sneak a grappling hook gun away from the armoury since I found that no one was guarding the second entrance in the back during my first round. From a window on the sixth floor, I could see small beams of sunlight creeping over the horizon. At the communications room, I paused just outside the door and flattened myself against the wall. I leaned against it for support as my nervousness was causing my legs to shake a bit. I breathed deeply, calmed my nerves, and strolled in. The soldiers took a bit to notice me, so I had to clear my throat. One of them stood immediately. I assumed that he was the head of communications.  
“What are you doing here? Does the captain need something?”  
I smiled and pulled out my trump card.  
“Oh no. Nothing like that. We’re having a birthday party in the mess hall. Just something small that we’re keeping from the captain and the warden. Anyone who’s still awake can go and have a slice of cake. I can hold down the fort here while you guys go get some.”  
The other two guards jumped to their feet excitedly.  
“Seriously?!”  
“Dude, that’s so awesome!”  
And they rushed for the door. I barely stepped out of the way in time before they ran me over. The head stood completely still. I gestured to the door. He looked me over skeptically.  
“Why aren’t you in the mess hall right now if there’s cake down there?”  
“I’m just not a big fan of cake. I know it sounds crazy, but I much prefer tea and biscuits and they’ve run out for today.”  
“Alright, as long as you’re fine taking over our shift. It feels wrong to leave all of this to you.”  
I waved him off. “Oh don’t worry. Go have some cake. Enjoy yourself for once. Maybe find a girl to kiss.” I nudged him in the stomach with my elbow and he laughed.  
“Yeah. Let’s go to this party!”   
He practically bounced out of the room. I laughed at his enthusiasm and leaned out the door. My eyes tracked him until he started heading down the stairs and I slammed the door shut and bolted it shut. I dragged two of the chairs over to the door as well to help if anyone tried to bust in. Just as I was pondering how best to destroy all the equipment, I saw an explosion of coal out the window down at the prison yard. Yes! They managed to pull it off. Now, for my part.   
I grabbed a wooden chair from the back of the room and started smashing all the electronic boards with it. For it all being metal, the various tables and instruments collapsed very easily. I slashed all the wires I could find and finished out my destruction therapy by throwing the chair at the window, smashing it. Glass flew everywhere, but thankfully I was wearing the hard boots of the Fire Nation soldiers over my soft slippers from the Southern Water Tribe. I watched the battle unfold beneath me. Everything went according to plan and the gang huddled in the middle of the yard.  
I leaned out the window and yelled down, “Hey guys! I’m up here!” They heard me somehow even with the great height that I was at and looked up to see me waving wildly from the broken window. I grabbed the grappling hook from the back of my belt. I had hid it there under my armor so I wouldn't get caught. I found my target with a crate towards the end of the prison yard and thought of all the tricks I had ever learned from movies. I breathed slowly and calmed myself. I put my finger on the trigger and breathed out as I shot it out. And it landed perfectly. Well… not perfectly, but it was workable. Thankfully, it still went into the crate I wanted, so there wouldn’t be any problems smashing into the ground. I tightly wove the end of the rope around the door handle and took off my armor. I put the curved helmet over the rope and took a big nervous breath before pushing off into the open air.   
The wind blew hard and fast past my face, whipping my hair up and around and in my face. I was so distracted by it, I almost missed the fact that an arrow passed right over my head and tore off a big chunk of my shirt. I whipped my hair around and saw a lone archer standing on top of the prison wall. But my fears were quelled quickly as Aang sent a gust of air right at the guy, knocking him off the wall into the water on the other side. Aww, Aang was protecting me. At that thought, a shit-eating grin crept up onto my face.  
SMACK  
And I smashed into the wooden crate hard and fast. The gang rushed to me as I crumpled to the ground.  
“Rei! Are you ok?” Katara yelled as she ran. I laid still trying to process what just happened. Nothing felt broken or anything, so that was good. My full body must’ve hit the crate, so the impact was spread out. As soon as I came to that conclusion, the gang flipped me over and started examining me for any injuries. Slapping away their hands, I quickly got to my feet, albeit groaning as I did so. I leaned against the crate with one arm and smirked.  
“I’m great. Not hurt at all. That was fun. Wanna do it again?”  
“No!” Sokka and Katara yelled simultaneously and they whipped around to stare at the other. I giggled uncontrollably, nudging Aang until he was also laughing at the siblings.   
“Alright, alright. Let’s just go. You need to take better care of yourself.”   
She flipped her hair around and started walking away.  
“Sure Katara. Sure.” I drawled.   
Aang rolled on the floor laughing and Sokka started to chuckle. Katara paused, obviously annoyed, then she just kept walking. And us three exploded into laughter.   
We literally could not stop laughing. It was an endless cycle of explosive laughter, then trying to suck it in, then sharing a look with the others, then laughing again. Eventually, Appa showed up and Aang jumped up and onto the great beast. When he landed, I rushed over and buried my face in his fur lovingly.   
We all got on and flew over to the docks, where the earthbenders were all climbing onto Fire Nation ships. Aang pulled Appa up right next to the lead ship. Katara talked with Haru a bit before jumping down onto Appa.   
“I hope everything goes well for you!” Katara shouted up to Haru.   
“Agreed!” He shouted back.  
“Don’t have too much fun without us Haru!” I chimed in and he laughed. Aang steered Appa up and away from the ships, heading north. I put a hand on Katara’s shoulder. She had just lost her mother’s necklace. That must’ve hurt a lot.  
“Hey. It’s ok.”  
She turned around, confused, with her necklace gleaming on her neck, reflecting the sun into my widening eyes.   
“You still have your mother’s necklace?!”  
“Yeah?” Katara drawled, raising an eyebrow.  
“Um… ok, nevermind then.” I moved away and sat towards the back of the saddle with Sokka. I bit my lip. Shit. What was happening? Katara was supposed to lose that necklace so Zuko would track us. What’s gonna happen now?

3rd POV  
Zuko’s eyes searched the prison rig’s yard, glaring at every last bit of coal that brought the Fire Nation failure, when he caught a glimpse of a color that should not have been there. Sniveling Fire Nation soldiers trailed behind him as he stalked closer. A single arrow was strewn on the ground with a bit of fabric attached. He snatched it from the metal floor and sneered at the familiar fabric. It was the same pink and purple cloth with the same strange square design on it that the insufferable peasant wore. Then Zuko’s eyes sharpened and his glare turned smug. This might help him. He stuffed the fabric into a random pocket and stormed back to his ship.


	12. That's... Curious

Last Time...  
Zuko snatched it from the metal floor and sneered at the familiar fabric. It was the same pink and purple cloth with the same strange square design on it that the insufferable peasant wore. Then Zuko’s eyes sharpened and his glare turned smug. This might help him. He stuffed the fabric into a random pocket and stormed back to his ship.

“Those clouds look so soft, don’t they?”  
I shifted over and laid next to Katara, watching the clouds pass by slowly.  
“Like you could just jump down and you’d just land in a big soft cottony heap.”  
I nodded. The clouds did look like big soft pillows. Today was a refreshing break from the cold winter weather. It reminded me of my home. Even in the winter months, it was always still sunny and hot.  
“Mmmhmm.”  
“Maybe you should give it a try.” Sokka snarked. I turned and rolled my eyes playfully.  
“You’re hilarious.” Katara drawled. It was actually kinda funny. I dunno why she was being so annoyed about it.  
Aang jumped up from the front seat and declared, “I’ll try it.”  
He jumped off and Katara and Sokka peered over the side down at him nervously. Honestly, what were they worried about? Aang’s an airbender. I just flipped myself over onto my back and found Aang sitting on the opposite side of the saddle, practically drenched.  
“Turns out, clouds are made of water.” He said, before blowing himself dry. Katara sat up and looked forward. Scrunching up her eyebrows, she stood and looked out in the distance.  
“Hey, what is that?”  
We all followed her example and saw the large burned landscape stretching into the horizon. I glared at the blackness. The Fire Nation was out of control. This was a devastation that could not be ignored. Sokka mused, “It’s... like a scar.”  
As we descended slowly, I realised exactly what I’d just thought. Every time I had watched this episode, I always thought that the Hei Bai spirit was kinda stupid and over-reacting. You’d think that a spirit would know about the acorns, but seeing the expanse of the burned forest was heartbreaking. If this was my home, I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to control myself and would think of people as guilty before proven innocent.  
The gang all slid down Appa and walked into a clearing of sorts. I stayed on Appa. All I could see was the color grey. All I could hear was my friend’s footsteps.  
“Listen.” Sokka whispered. “It’s so quiet. There’s no life anywhere.”  
Aang paused, looking down. Katara took a step towards him and asked, “Aang, are you ok?”  
Sokka crouched down and found footprints that matched the Fire Nation’s classic boots. He stood angrily and fumed, “Fire Nation! Those evil savages make me sick. They have no respect for-”  
Katara shushed him and he hissed, “What? I’m not allowed to be angry?”  
Aang sighed sadly and slid to the ground. He picked up some of the ash and let it fall through his fingers.  
“Why would anyone do this? How could I let this happen?”  
Katara assured, “Aang, you didn’t let this happen. It has nothing to do with you.”  
“Yes it does.” He bit back at Katara, anger and sadness evident in his voice. “It’s the Avatar’s job to protect nature, but I don’t know how to do my job.”  
“That’s why we’re going to the North Pole.” She smiled softly. “To find you a teacher.”  
Aang turned to her and snapped,“Yeah, a waterbending teacher, but there’s no one who can teach me how to be the Avatar. Monk Gyasto said that Avatar Roku would help me.”  
Sokka furrowed his brow in confusion. He reasoned,“The Avatar before you? He died over a hundred years ago. How are you supposed to talk to him?”  
Momo laid himself in Aang’s lap and Aang pet him softly. He whispered, “I don’t know.”  
Silence fell over the group. They all just sat and looked at the horrible landscape, sitting in the sadness. I turned over onto my back and stared up at the beautiful blue sky. I did not want to sit with my sadness anymore. I did enough of that back home. We stayed like this for a while before Katara asked, “Hey Aang, are you ready to be cheered up?”  
“No.” He muttered dejectedly.  
Katara threw an acorn at him, hitting him straight on the head. He shouted, “Ow! Hey, how is that cheering me up?”  
Sokka snickered, “Cheered me up.” Katara threw one at him, also hitting her mark exactly right. “Ow! Yeah, I probably deserved that.”  
Katara crouched down next to Aang and explained,“These acorns are everywhere Aang. That means the forest will grow back. Every one of these will be a tall oak tree someday. And all the birds and animals that lived here will come back.”  
She took the acorn and put it in his hand. He smiled.  
“Thanks Katara.”  
A sudden grunting sound startled us and we all turned just in time to see an old man swiftly walking towards us. I slipped off Appa and walked up to Aang and Katara with Sokka following suit. Katara put a hand on Aang’s shoulder and called out, “Hey, who are you?”  
The man ignored her, eyes trained on Aang. As he kept approaching, I stepped in front of the young airbender and laid my hand on my sword in warning.  
“Hey! She asked you a question. Who are you and what do you want?”  
He finally stopped in his tracks, hesitant at the aggression that he was obviously not expecting.  
“My name is Gaoshun. I saw your flying bison. My village is in trouble. We need the help of the Avatar. Can you please help us?”  
I hummed and scanned my eyes up and down the man suspiciously.  
“I don’t know about this.” Sokka muttered.  
“It does seem sketchy, but he seems genuine.” Katara countered.  
“It’s up to you, Aang.” I declared, lowering my volume as well.  
Aang gasped loudly, “Wha- Me?” I didn’t turn to look at him, but hummed my consent.  
“You’re the Avatar. They probably need help from you specifically. You should be the one to make the decision.”  
“Then... I think we should try to help them.”  
I nodded and called out, “We’ll help you. Give us a minute to prepare and you can escort us to your village.”  
The old man, Gaoshun apparently, bowed respectfully and stayed put. I narrowed my eyes at him one last time, before shepherding the others back to Appa. As I secured everything in our bags, I explained, “Alright, I think we should be cautious, but I agree with Aang that we should help them if we can.”  
Katara nodded, “Agreed.” Sokka had a skeptical face, but he nodded anyway.  
I took the lead and we walked Appa over to Gaoshun.  
“Let’s go. Your village needs help.”  
Halfway through the journey, all of the gang, myself included, had retreated into the saddle because their legs had tired out. When I joined the group in the saddle, Katara asked me, “What do you think they need help with?”  
“I’m sure it has something to do with a powerful spirit if they need help from the Avatar.”  
Aang gulped nervously, “You think so?”  
Oh that was not the right thing to say. That made him so much more nervous.  
“Or they just need a good laugh. They’d be looking in the right place.” Sokka joked.  
Aang laughed, “Well, they don’t need me then. They just need to see you fight and they won’t be able to stop laughing.” I giggled behind my hand and Katara cracked a grin.  
Sokka grinned and shot back, “All you’d need to do is fly in with your glider and crash.”  
“You’d only need to show up!”  
“You only need to exist!”  
“You don’t even need to!”  
The silent glaring after that was what sent Katara and me over the edge into laughing loudly and rolling all over the saddle.  
The jokes and laughter continued until Katara called out, “Hey! There it is!”  
We paused and looked where she was pointing. The stone wall stood strong and, as we passed under it, they all gasped at the destruction that was evident throughout the village. While some of the structures had some wear and tear, entire houses were just rumble. The only one that seemed untouched was the big one in the middle. That’s where Gaoshun took us and he waited at the door for us.  
Leaving Appa outside, our entire group entered and Gaoshun called out, “This young person is the Avatar.”  
A tall man, obviously the leader of the village, came up to us. He completely ignored the three other people and only focused on Aang.  
“So the rumors of your return are true. It is the greatest honor of a lifetime to be in your presence.”  
Aang responded in kind, “Nice to meet you too. So, is there something I can help you with?”  
“I’m... not sure.” Obviously, Gaoshun had not explained his thought process to this guy before, so apparently he had to do so now.  
“Our village is in crisis. He’s our only hope.” He turned back to us and explained, “For the last few days at sunset, a spirit monster comes and attacks our village. He is Hei Bai, the black and white spirit.”  
Suspicious, Sokka questioned, “Why is it attacking you?”  
The leader opened up, “We do not know, but each of the last three nights, he has abducted one of our own. We are especially fearful because the winter solstice draws near.”  
“What happens then?” Katara asked.  
Gaoshun explained, “As the Solstice approaches, the natural world and the spirit world grow closer and closer until the line between them is blurred completely.”  
The leader turned back to us from his stance at the doorway.  
“Hei Bai is already causing devastation and destruction. Once the Solstice is here, there is no telling what will happen.”  
“So... what do you want me to do exactly?” Ang asked hesitantly.  
Gaoshun responded like it was common sense, “Who better to resolve a crisis between our world and the spirit world than the Avatar himself? You are the great bridge between man and spirits.”  
Aang winced, “Right... That’s me.”  
I stepped in to help the clearly uncomfortable child.  
“Aang, Katara, Sokka, come over here. Let’s talk about this before we decide anything.”  
We huddled up by the nearest window and Katara started, “Aang, you seem a little unsure about all this.”  
Aang griped angrily, “Yeah, that might be because I don’t know anything at all about the spirit world. It’s not like there’s someone to teach me this stuff.”  
“Aang!” I chided. “Don’t let anger overwhelm your common sense. Think about this logically.”  
Katara and I shared a glance and she asked, “Can you help these people Aang?”  
“I have to try, don’t I? Maybe whatever I have to do will just… come to me.” He faltered with a nervous smile.  
Katara smiled at him reassuringly, “I think you can do it, Aang.”  
I pursed my lips. “I don’t know if a feeling of obligation is the best reason to do this, but I’ll support you however I can Aang.”  
“Yeah, we’re all gonna get eaten by a spirit monster.” Sokka gave a mocking smile and I elbowed him hard in his side. “Ow! Rei!”  
“Spirit monsters don’t eat people. I’m sure those people that Hei Bai took are completely fine. I doubt that they’ll even know what happened when they get back.” I raised my voice and spoke directly to the older men waiting on us, “Aang will do his best. Spirits are sometimes hard to deal with, so don’t expect an instant fix.” They both nodded and bowed.  
“Thank you Avatar. I don’t know what we would’ve done without you.”  
“Now, do you have an extra place for us to set up camp?” I asked, folding my arms over each other. It was annoying how they didn’t actually acknowledge the rest of the gang other than Aang. The leader pointed towards an empty corner of the house. I stalked out to Appa, running my hands through his fur, and dragged my sleeping bag back inside. I threw it to the ground and laid down, glaring harshly at the wooden ceiling. The rest of the gang followed suit slowly.

When the evening came, they gave us each a portion of food for dinner. As we ate, Aang went to go feed Appa.  
“Do you think Aang can actually do this?” Sokka mused.  
“Yes Sokka! He can!” Katara snapped.  
“Jeez Katara, just a question.” he muttered.  
“Look Katara, we all believe in Aang. He can do this. I think we’re just worried because he doesn’t seem to believe in himself. You saw how he was with that abrupt declaration of who he was supposed to be.” I explained.  
Katara sighed, “I guess you’re right, but I’m sure he’ll get past this.”  
I smiled softly and laid a hand on her knee. “Yeah. Aang is a good kid. He’ll get through this.”

Shortly after dinner was finished, Aang went out into the open village, asking for the spirit to come out and talk. The siblings and I watched from a window.  
Sokka worried,“This isn’t right. We can’t sit here and cower while Aang waits for some monster to show up.”  
“If anyone can save us, he can.” Gaoshun spoke up from behind us.  
“He still shouldn't have to face this alone.” Sokka reasoned. He was right of course.  
Aang twirled his staff and hit it on the ground at the gate of the village. Nothing happened and he started walking back to the big house. Without him noticing, the spirit silently appeared behind him and followed him into the village. When he finally noticed, he tried talking to Hei Bai, but it just roared in his face and started to destroy the village, completely ignoring Aang.  
“The Avatar’s methods are… unusual.”  
Sokka muttered, “It doesn’t seem too interested in what he’s saying.” Hei Bai screeched at a building and reduced it to ash. “Maybe we should go help him.”  
Gaoshun protested,“No! Only the Avatar stands a chance against the Hei Bai.”Katara put a hand on Sokka’s shoulder.  
“Aang will figure out the right thing to do, Sokka.”  
Just then, Aang was thrown to the side by Hei Bai.  
“That’s it! He needs help.” Sokka threw off Katara’s hand and ran to the door.  
She yelled, “Sokka! Wait!”  
She ran after him only to be stopped at the door by the village leader who warned,“It’s not safe.”  
Katara and I watched as Sokka tried to help Aang, which only got him taken by Hei Bai. Katara ran out of the building as soon as Sokka was in Hei Bai’s grasp and froze at the gate as the boys disappeared from view.  
“Sokka!” She yelled after them, but it was pointless. They were already gone. I went up behind her and hugged her.  
“It’ll be ok Katara. They’ll be back. I’m gonna go to bed. You should too soon. It’s not healthy for you to stay up all night.”  
I left her standing frozen at the gate and made my way to my sleeping bag. Although I reassured Katara and I knew Aang and Sokka would be back, it was still terrifying to be separated. I guess I got so used to having them always around. After a very long time of fidgeting, worrying, and changing of positions, I fell into a fitful sleep.

When the sun rose the next morning, I woke up and strode out of the big house to see Katara and Aang by the gate. Wait, Aang? He should be in the spirit world! I went over to them and I heard Aang talking. He was also see-through which confused me even more. Katara didn’t seem to be hearing Aang talk either. Wait...  
“All I have to do is figure out what I have to do, but once I do that, no problem.”  
“Then, what’re you still sitting here for?” I asked. Aang jumped up and got confused when he saw that I was looking directly at him. Katara didn’t turn, so I put a finger up to my lips to shush him.  
“Oh hey Rei. I’m waiting for Sokka and Aang to get back.”  
I drew her into an awkward embrace. Just walking up, Appa breathed in our faces and let out a low moan. Katara reached up and patted his nose gently.  
“It’s ok Appa. Don’t worry. I’m sure they’re on their way back. I bet they even found you a bunch of moon peaches. For a treat.”  
Katara detached herself from me slowly and took a step away from the gate.  
“I’m gonna go get Appa something to eat.”  
I nodded, “And you should get some rest while you’re at it. I’ll wait here for our boys.”  
They both walked away and I turned to Aang.  
“So, what exactly is happening Aang?”  
“When Hei Bai spirit took Sokka, I tried to get him back and somehow I got pulled into the spirit world. No one else can see me.”  
I furrowed my brow. Obviously, I knew that already, but how on earth was I able to see him? I mused, “Interesting. I wonder why I can.”  
Aang kicked the ground and complained, “Ugh! What am I supposed to do?”  
“I’m not sure I know Aang.”  
He ran his hand down his face and groused, “I wish I knew how to talk to Roku.”  
Turning to the forest, he yelled out, “Avatar Roku! How can I talk to you?”  
There was no answer. I sighed and looked down.  
“Sokka?” He whispered.  
I raised my head and saw a strange light moving towards us from a distance.  
As it drew closer and what it actually was became evident, I paled, “That’s not Sokka.” Even if it wasn’t a dragon, Sokka was taken by Hei Bai. He wouldn’t just show up again out of the blue. And that was definitely a dragon. Dragon. Oh fuck.  
Aang tried to use his glider to get away from the oncoming dragon, but it didn’t work. He tried airbending to no avail. He muttered something to himself. I blanched and backed up closer to the wall. Even if I didn’t know that the dragon was Roku’s animal friend, there’s no stopping a dragon getting what they want. The dragon landed in front of us menacingly and I squeaked, “Um… that’s a dragon. Aang. That’s a dragon! Dragon!”  
“Yeah. Yeah, I know Rei.”  
He took a slow step closer to the beast.  
“Aang!” I yelped.  
“You don’t know where Sokka is, do you?” Aang asked cautiously.  
The dragon touched Aang on the forehead and his eyes turned blue for a second. He instantly dropped his guard and regarded the dragon like a friend.  
“You’re Avatar Roku’s animal guide, like Appa is to me? I need to save my friend and I don’t know how. Is there some way for me to talk to Roku?”  
The dragon lowered his head in front of Aang  
“Wait! Aang, what’s going on?” I demanded.  
The dragon lifted his head and hissed at me. Shrinking slightly, I took an unconscious step backwards.  
“This is Avatar Roku’s dragon. He’s gonna take me to Roku.”  
“Oh… alright.”  
The dragon nudged Aang and put his head back down so Aang could climb on.  
“I’ll be back Rei.”  
Before I could say anything, the dragon had already started it’s ascent into the sky. Unsure if Aang could actually still hear me, I yelled, “Good luck!”  
I got no response, but they flew off quickly. I went to go eat breakfast.  
“Hey Katara.”  
“Hey Rei. I’m gonna take Appa and go look for Aang. Do you wanna come with me?”  
I froze with my fork halfway in my mouth. In the show, Zuko saw Appa flying around. That could be a very bad thing at this point. Though, he chose to go after his uncle. Oh shoot. I forgot about that situation that was also happening in this episode. I hope Iroh comes out ok. Katara cleared her throat. Oops. I put down my fork and said, “Yeah, go for it. I’m gonna stay here in case they come back while you’re out and about.”  
She stood and left. She came back around lunchtime and stayed albeit silent and with an extremely worried expression on her face. The sun had already started to set when Aang came back. I saw him come in the gate and Katara’s worried yells, so I just went to go to sleep.  
I was just drifting off when Katara suddenly asked, “How can you sleep at a time like this?”  
I guess she must’ve come in without me noticing. That’s a surprise. I rolled towards her and sighed, “Everything will be fine. Aang will get Sokka back. I don’t need to worry myself and lose sleep over it.”  
I rolled back away from her and fell asleep with no other problems.

A/N: Wow! That’s the longest chapter I’ve written so far. Hope you enjoyed it! I’m so proud of myself. This is the… third? fourth? chapter I’ve gotten out on a weekly basis on Wednesdays. I hope it’s more enjoyable now that there are consistent updates. Though, honestly, it’s actually really helping me with keeping myself accountable, so the change is mostly for my own benefit. Anyways, hope you’re all staying safe. Have a nice day! :)


	13. The Blockade

Last Time…  
I was just drifting off when Katara suddenly asked, “How can you sleep at a time like this?”  
I guess she must’ve come in without me noticing. That’s a surprise. I rolled towards her and sighed, “Everything will be fine. Aang will get Sokka back. I don’t need to worry myself and lose sleep over it.”  
I rolled back away from her and fell asleep with no other problems.

Back in my own world, I’d always wake up to my alarm clock and hit the snooze button. It would always make me late to school. The habit got so bad that I had to move the clock all the way across my room. Though, it didn’t really help as I robotically stood up, hit the snooze button and fell back onto my bed to sleep for just five more minutes. When I arrived at the Southern Water Tribe, I quickly learned that they didn’t really have a set sleep schedule. You were free to wake up when you wanted to, unless there was a small child who wanted you to play with them or an angry elder who asked you to do a specific set of chores three days earlier came and yelled at you to get up. As I was a newcomer, I mostly didn’t have children asking to play with me and I usually did all my chores on the day that they were given to me. So, I started to sleep in and got very accustomed to the practice. So when our little group set off for the North Pole, I was very worried about how early we would have to wake up. It turned out that wasn’t going to be an issue though until right then when I was awoken very violently with a number of jerks and pushes.  
“Rei! We need to go!”  
I moaned and rolled away from the loud blob that had Katara’s voice. She grabbed my blanket and tucked it under her arm.  
“Come on, get up.”  
I curled up into myself, trying to get some of the warmth back, and whined, “Why?”  
“We’ll explain on the way. Let’s go. We already got your stuff onto Appa.”  
She pulled on my arm and, with her help, I got up and stumbled out to Appa, who took off as soon as I got in the saddle.  
“Sooooo… whad’s goin’ on?”  
“Aang had a vision and we’re going to the Fire Temple so he can talk to Avatar Roku.”  
I nodded, “Riiiiight. That is what happened, uuuuuh right.”  
I fell over on my side and muttered, “G’night.”  
They didn’t disturb me, which surprised me a bit, but what didn’t surprise me was that I woke up in the middle of danger again with Katara yelling, “We got trouble!” cause of course I wake up right in the middle of danger. I sighed and bonked my head a couple of times before sitting up.  
“Yeah, and it’s gaining fast.” Sokka yelped. I blinked rapidly and held my head in my hands as a severe headache formed from getting up to fast.  
“Fireball!”  
“I’m on it!”  
We swerved and I barely had time to grab a hold of the saddle before I could fall into the ocean.  
I opened my mouth to yell at Aang, but then a gust of disgusting wind flooded my senses. As I had a coughing fit, Katara said, “We have to get out of Zuko’s range before he shoots another hot stinker at us!”  
“Ugh! That is terrible!” I added holding my nose and breathing as little as possible.   
I swiftly moved over to Sokka, who turned around to check on Zuko’s ship and paled, “Can’t you make Appa go any faster?”   
“Yeah…” Aang muttered, “but there’s just one little problem. Look!”  
A huge Fire Nation blockade sat in front of us, spanning from the edges of the horizon. Shit.  
“If we fly north, we can go around the Fire Nation ships and avoid the blockade.” Aang said, “It’s the only way.”  
Katara shook her head. “There’s no time!”  
Aang groaned, turning to us angrily, “This is exactly why I didn’t want you to come. It’s too dangerous!”  
Katara set her jaw. “And that’s exactly why we’re here.”  
“We’re here for you Aang, through thick and thin.” I agreed.  
Sokka said confidently,“Let’s run this blockade!”  
Aang smiled and our eyes locked. I returned his smile and I saw the determination build in his eyes before he turned back around. “Appa, yip yip!”  
We headed straight for the blockade, intent on getting past it head on.  
“Hope you’re ready for this Appa. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.” I grimaced, thinking about the close calls that were coming.  
As we got closer, fireballs started heading right for us. The siblings and I held on for dear life as Appa weaved and twisted around and managed to get past most of them. He got a little burned, but we put out the fires quickly. Aang decided to go above the clouds. Good strategy on the whole, but we should’ve been doing from the start since they now knew we were here and so sent fireballs through the clouds. Two fireballs collided caused Appa to buck wildly.  
“Sokka!”   
I looked back and just managed to see Sokka fall through the cloud layer. Aang steered Appa down and caught him, barely getting him above the ocean’s surface.   
“Sokka, are you alright?”  
“I’m good Rei. I just fell a thousand feet and just barely managed to survive.” I jabbed him with my elbow. “Hey!”  
I smirked, “Deserved it.”  
A fireball came hurtling right at us and Aang gave it an airbending kick and made a hole for us to get through. Looking over the edge of the saddle, I saw Zhao glaring at us harshly as we flew past. I gulped hard. Zhao scared me. That fear was so much worse in person. I was not looking forward to the day when we met up close.   
“We made it!” Aang cheered and I smiled at him.  
“Woohoo!” I chorused and started jumping up and down and all around.  
“We got into the Fire Nation. Greaaaat…” Sokka gulped nervously and I dragged the two siblings into a big hug.  
“Oh Sokka. Don’t worry about it. Getting out will be easy now that we know to avoid the blockade.” I pulled back and grinned at him.   
He rolled his eyes and mumbled, “Yeah, I guess.”  
“That’s the spirit. Katara?”  
She nodded confidently, “I’m sure we’ll be fine. I trust you guys.”  
“Hey! You guys are doing a group hug without me?!” Aang yelled and we barely had time to react before he did a massive airbending jump and landed on top of the group, making us all fall to the ground.  
“Aang!” Sokka yelled.  
The boy grimaced and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Oops. My bad.”  
Sokka seethed, “Oh I’ll show you bad.”  
“Sokka…” I warned, but it was apparently too late as Sokka jumped on the young Avatar, sending them rolling across the saddle. I sighed and shared a glance with Katara. We smirked at each other and jumped on the boys, getting us all tangled up in an array of arms and legs going everywhere.  
“Now we’re all included Aang.” I teased.  
“You happy?” Katara laughed.  
“Yes! Now get off!”  
I tried to pull myself free, but to no avail.   
“Hey guys… I’m stuck. Can anyone else get out?”  
A couple of painful grunts later and a collective muttering, “No…”  
“Alright, Aang, can you airbend us out of here?”  
“Well, we might end up falling out of the saddle.”  
“What if we had Appa fly down to the ocean surface? Then we wouldn’t fall that much and we can just climb back on.”  
“Appa! Go down to the ocean!”  
Appa started to circle down and we started getting thrown to different parts of the saddle.  
“Slowly Appa! Slowly!” I yelled and we stopped rolling around like a human bowling ball. We all heard Appa splash into the water and Aang jumped into action, blowing us all off into the sea. 

Slumped in a wet, shivering heap, Sokka panted, “We are never doing that again.”  
All in similar situations to him, we chorused, “Agreed.”

Loosely wrapped in my blanket, I sat looking at my feet and thinking through everything that was coming. At one point, I even thought about what would happen if I just took the gang away from the story. They didn’t deserve to be thrown into this at their age. I regained my sense after a second. We had to stick to the story. No deviations. Though, I supposed I would never be able to trust myself. It would probably be best if I left the group sometime soon. Then, nothing would be changed because of my presence. Katara already didn’t lose her necklace. That seemingly small alteration might end up spiraling out of my control. How was Zuko going to track us down without it? The gang would fall apart when Bato showed up if Zuko didn’t find us. I’d probably have to patch that situation myself and get them to talk to each other. That was not going to be fun. As I worried endlessly, a sudden half-stifled yawn broke through my mental cloud. I looked up.  
Frowning slightly, I shifted my eyes between Sokka and Katara who sat at opposite sides of the saddle. Their drooping eyes stared blankly at the thick cloud cover that protected us from any more Fire Nation attacks.   
“Hey guys, you should get some rest. I know you all stayed up late for the past two nights. I’ve still got some steam left. I can take watch.”  
Swiftly reaching over and wrapping himself into a messy blanket burrito, Sokka panted, “Thanks Rei.” I rolled my eyes playfully before checking on Katara. She shivered nervously, obviously still cold from the short dip in the freezing winter ocean. I grabbed my own blanket and layered it over hers. Her hands unconsciously grabbed the fabric closer to her, but she protested, “No, we got you up from your sleep. You should take a nap. Get back some of that lost-”  
“No!” I insisted, “You’ve been super stressed out and the little sleep that you got was fitful. You need sleep more than me.” She opened her mouth to argue, but I cut her off, “Uh-uh. No, I’m not gonna take no for an answer.” I pushed a bit and she acquiesced to my movements. Softly and slowly, I let her down onto the seat of the saddle.

Sighing contently as I heard snoring coming from Sokka, I climbed into the front seat next to Aang. I asked, “Hey Aang? What do you think Avatar Roku wants to talk about?”  
His grip on Appa’s reins tighted. “I don’t know. He showed me a vision. I don’t know what it means, but he showed me the crescent island and that’s where we need to go.”  
I nodded,“So, what do you know about the past Avatars? Like what do they do in the spirit world? Do they see everything that happens here? Do they know the future?”  
“The monks told us that only the Avatar is able to contact them, but no Avatar has told anyone about their meetings with their past selves. So, I don’t know. After we talk about my vision, I could ask for you?”  
“No, that’s okay. I’m just curious. There’s so much I don’t know about the spirit world.”  
“Well, I don’t know much cause the monks never taught me how to travel between the two worlds.”  
“Well, I hope that Roku can help you with your vision.” I patted his shoulder reassuringly.  
Aang gulped slightly, but tried to give me a smile back. He mumbled, “Me too,” and looked away.   
I gave his shoulder a squeeze and sighed. Looking back at the sleeping kids, I offered, “Aang, why don’t you get some rest too? You were in the spirit world for a while. I can steer Appa for a while.”  
“No, I better keep going since I know what the island looks like and how to get there.”  
“As long as you’re sure…”  
He grinned, “Sure! If anything, going into the spirit world gave me even more energy.”  
Pulling him into a swift hug, I laughed, “Ha! You already have so much energy. Guess I’ll have to keep you out of the spirit world as much as possible.” I let him go and gave him one last smile before hopping back into the saddle. Wrapping my torn flannel around me as much as possible, I took up station at the back of the saddle, watching the clouds float by below us.

A/N: I took last week off. This chapter’s also a little shorter than usual, so apologies for that. I’m trying to get my brain back into a productive mindset, so bare with me. Hopefully, the next chapter will be published back on schedule next Wednesday.


	14. Avatar Roku

Last Time…  
Wrapping my torn flannel around me as much as possible, I took up station at the back of the saddle, watching the clouds float by below us.

It was hard.   
But it had to be done.  
I couldn’t afford to be emotional.  
I bit my lip anxiously.   
I had to talk to Roku.   
The only hope I had was to talk to someone from the spirit world who might have an idea of how I got here. That’s why I refused to back down from asking Bumi about the White Lotus. If I couldn’t get into contact with Roku here or he just didn’t know the answer to my questions, I could be taught later how to get into the spirit world myself. From there, it would just be trial and error to find someone who could tell me what the hell to do.   
But Zhao would be there and I couldn’t trust that he wouldn’t hurt Katara and Sokka. Zhao was so fucking crazy. He was a wildcard in my mind. All I had to do is make a miniscule change and he could ruin the whole story just by being his insane self.  
Ugh. Everything was so risky.  
But there wasn’t anything else that I could think of to do.  
As you can probably imagine, I had no clue what I was doing. I just was grasping at straws. It was just good luck that I actually knew and remembered the story. If fate, or whoever/whatever dropped me here, put me in a show that I hadn’t followed as obsessively, I would’ve been screwed.  
Guess I was glad for that. And it was really cool to see everything for myself.   
But I didn’t belong here.  
I wouldn’t ever.  
“Rei! Guys!” Aang shouted excitedly. I swiveled my head forward and spotted the temple. “There it is!”  
The siblings both moaned at the abrupt waking. Katara rolled herself into a sitting position, her eyes widening as she took everything in. As much as I completely agreed with the decision, I had to rock Sokka back awake when he had lifted his head and then flopped back down to keep sleeping.  
“Come on Sokka, you gotta get up. We’re here.”  
He tried slapping me away, but I just grabbed his arm and pulled him out of his warm cocoon.  
“REi!”  
“Suck it up sleepyhead, we’re here.”  
While he moaned and groaned his way to complete consciousness, Katara gaped at the volcano.  
“This is where we’re supposed to go?”  
“Yep, this is where Roku’s dragon took me.”  
“Guess I should’ve expected something massive involving fire since it’s the Fire Temple.” She mumbled, looking more anxious than I’d ever seen her before. I grabbed her from behind and pulled her into a light hug.   
“It’s gonna be fine. Don’t get all worked up. You’ll only stress yourself out more.”  
She gave me an awkward smile and sighed, tensing even more as her gaze returned to the black landscape.  
Honestly, I wasn’t doing much better since it was quite frightening to have a literal volcano right in front of you. And I knew that it would most certainly erupt while we were still on the island. That was terrifying in itself, but, as I’ve already said, Zhao would be there soon.   
Zuko would be there too and I didn’t want to get too close to that situation as I really didn’t want to turn him bad forever accidentally.  
As Appa descended towards the Temple, I descended into paranoia.   
“You did it, buddy. Nice flying.” Aang cooed, scratching Appa’s neck affectionately.  
Katara beamed, “Oh, you must be tired.”   
Katara rubbed Appa’s belly.   
“No, I’m good. Refreshed and ready to fight some firebenders.” Sokka jumped up and down, stretching himself out.  
“I was talking to Appa.” Katara raised an eyebrow at her brother, who froze awkwardly.  
“Oh… well, I was talking to Momo.”  
Fidgeting widely, I drew my gaze from the ash-covered ground to the tall structure looming over us.   
The Fire Temple’s stone walls looked cracked and crumbling in some places. Some of the tiling on the roofs was terribly faded from years of constant sunlight. They looked more light orange than their original dark red, pulling me into a memory of one of my baby sister’s brilliant ideas to paint our house orange for Halloween. Mom and Dad had been so furious; They nearly took away her Halloween candy. Of course, she got it back through snot and tears.  
A distant smile crept onto my face as I remembered how happy we were before everything happened.   
“What’re you smiling about?” Katara teased and I blinked out of my mind.   
I forced a smile on my face and simply said, “I’m just glad we might’ve actually gotten here in time.”  
“You sure you’re ok?”   
“Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s get going.”  
Ignoring her concerned look, I started the small trek to the Temple.   
At first glance, it definitely looked abandoned. I knew better of course, but Sokka’s next statement made complete logical sense.  
“I don’t see any guards.”  
“The Fire Nation must have abandoned the Temple when Avatar Roku died.” Katara reasoned.  
“It’s almost sundown. We’d better hurry.” After saying that, Aang jumping lightly over the small wall that we were hiding behind and hurried to the open doorway. Sokka and Katara followed and they all ran super quiet-like trying to be sneaky. I raised an eyebrow and just focused on keeping my footsteps quiet as I calmly walked behind them. It didn’t matter either way. The Fire Sages knew we were coming. Wish I could remember how this episode actually goes down. I knew everything that happened after the chase from the Sages, but I didn’t exactly remember how it started.  
“Wait. I think I heard something.” Sokka whispered. Slowly, they all turned around and gasped at something behind me.   
“What?” I asked, completely oblivious.  
Aang pointed behind me and I found the Fire Sages blocking our exit. Oh yeah, that’s how it starts.  
The lead Sage introduced the group, which I thought was rather polite of him, “We are the Fire Sages, Guardians of the Temple of the Avatar.”  
Aang relaxed a bit and took a few steps forward. “Great. I am the Avatar.”  
“We know.”  
And he threw a fireball at Aang.   
“Aang!” I yelled, pushing him out of the way and quickly deflecting the fireball with my sword. “Run guys! Find the Sanctuary!”  
“But-” Aang started.  
“Go!” I yelled, pushing him behind me, further into the temple.  
The leader of the Sages smirked, “You have no chance of defeating us little girl. It would be best just to surrender.”  
I sneered at the implication, “Never,” and I grounded myself, settling into a battle-ready position.  
He threw a couple fireballs, that I either dodged or deflected. Surprise lit his face and I was assured that I could actually hold them off for my friends.  
“What technique is that? That is no firebending I have ever seen before.”  
My eyebrows scrunched up and I simply said, “I am not a firebender. There is no trick.”  
“Very well, young one.” He made a quick hand sign and I barely had time to blink before all the Fire Sages simultaneously shot fire at me.  
In the volley of fireballs, I deflected maybe two, but probably only one successfully, before being hit and thrown to the wall.  
“If the Avatar contacts Roku, there’s no telling how powerful the boy will become. Split up and find him. I’ll take this one.”  
With my hands bound to my body with heavy chains, I was dragged along with the Great Fire Sage as he searched for Aang, Katara and Sokka.   
As I discovered, the Fire Temple was actually smaller than I originally thought. The passages were just small and all looked the same. Due to the winding floor plan, we came across the other Sages fairly frequently. Except of course Shyu, but I knew where he was. The Great Sage kept grunting and grumbling as the search dragged on and I got the distinct idea that he had never had this much excitement in his entire life. He was actually quite bad at the whole searching thing. Even if the group wasn’t within the secret passages below the Temple, the Fire Sages were just running around randomly like headless chickens and it would be insanely easy to avoid them.  
“You know, your technique isn’t that good either.”   
The Sage glared at me, almost effusing anger into the air.   
I just continued, because needling evil people is just the funnest activity ever, “ I don’t mean your firebending. That’s fine, but obviously, you’ve never had to comb this temple looking for something before because your strategy is all off. Y’all are just running around looking instead of systematically clearing different areas.”  
He literally growled at me and just kept dragging me along. I snorted and let him use his stupid non-plan.  
A loud explosion rumbled throughout the Temple and the Great Sage paused. He shouted, “Get to the Sanctuary!” He started running himself through the corridors. It was actually quite easy to keep up even with my arms being tied up. Not that I think it’s a disadvantage, but the guy seemed like he was at least 60 or 70 years old.  
Along the way, we met up with all the rest of the Sages and found Shyu standing in front of the Sanctuary doors.  
Shyu explained, “Come quickly! The Avatar has entered the Sanctuary!”  
“How did he get in?”  
“I don’t know, but look at the scorch marks, and down there.”  
Shyu pointed to the bottom of the doorway where a shadowy figure moved around.  
The Great Sage nodded, “He’s inside. Open the doors immediately before he contacts Avatar Roku.”  
Grunting loudly and thrusting their fists forward, the Sages blasted the door and it opened on its own.  
Sitting there, with his face covered in ash, was Momo. He sneezed, very adorably I might add, and looked up at the Fire Sages standing there stunned.  
“It’s the Avatar’s lemur. He must have crawled through the pipes. We’ve been tricked!” The Great Sage fumed, but before he could do anything about it, Momo jumped on his face and took him down to the ground.  
Sokka and Katara each grabbed one of the Sages. Shyu got the one nearest to him and I backed up near the entrance.  
“Now Aang!” Shyu yelled, but there was no response.  
Katara shouted, “Aang, now’s your chance!”  
Tussling with Zuko, who held him quite tightly, Aang came out from behind a column.  
“The Avatar’s coming with me.”   
In the confused pause, the Fire Sages all turned on their captors. I edged towards the door and the Great Sage shot me with a fire blast. Seriously, that dude needed to plan things out more because his blast just pushed me closer to the doors, albeit helplessly lying on the floor. I pulled myself up with a great deal of momentum and stumbled my way past the doors.  
“Close the doors, quickly.” Zuko commanded before getting kicked down some stairs by Aang.  
Aang ran towards Katara and Sokka, who were being chained up to a column.  
“Go!” Katara yelled, nodding to the closing Sanctuary doors.  
Without hesitation, Aang changed course, barely jumping through into the sanctuary as the doors slammed shut behind him. The light was hitting Avatar Roku’s statue and a clunking noise was heard behind us. I started at the noise, but figured that it must’ve just been Avatar Roku keeping the firebenders out.   
Aang thought out loud, “The light hits the statue and I talk to Roku. So, why isn’t anything happening?”  
Aang moved further into the room, whipping around looking for anything that would tell him what to do, and exasperatedly shouted, “Why isn't anything happening? I don't know what I'm doing! All I know is airbending! Please Avatar Roku, talk to me!”  
Roku's statue turned red as the sunlight engulfed it. His eyes glowed white. Synchronously, Aang’s eyes began to glow as well and he fell into a sitting meditative position.  
I stayed back by the door and sat down against the wall. Eyeing the glowing statue of Roku, I said, “I’d love a chat if you’re not busy. Maybe you can tell me what to do like you’re doing with Aang.”  
Nothing happened.  
Oh well.  
I closed my eyes, sighing heavily, because I thought I’d be waiting for a while. When I rolled my head back to rest it against the wall, I fell down onto my back as if the wall wasn’t there at all. Opening my eyes and getting into a protective crouch on instinct, I found I was in a different place. Avatar Roku stood a few paces away from me, looking like someone spilt his tea on purpose, and that person was me. My eyes widened and my mouth fell open.  
“Young girl, why did you come here?”  
I stood up, shifting from side to side, and my voice failed to work correctly. After reddening severely, I cleared my throat and mumbled, “Well, I didn’t really have a choice. I just woke up here. It wasn’t exactly my idea to be in this universe.”  
His stern expression did not change and he reprimanded me, “You have no place here. Aang has an important mission. He must defeat Firelord Ozai. You will be in the way. We Avatars can see the past, present and future, but ever since you arrived, the world has been in flux. You must leave this place. You can not travel with Aang.”  
Now, during his long explanation of how I did not belong, I went through various stages of grief over how he didn’t like me. When he finished talking, I had landed on petulance and ranted, “Hang on, I know the future too. I’ve seen it. I know what I have to do to keep the timeline intact. I’m not gonna screw everything up. I’m not an idiot. And I’m not a little girl. I know how to fight.” I stomped my foot hard against the ground as if that proved my strength. “I can protect Aang. I’ll make sure everything goes to plan.”  
Rubbing his forehead stressfully, Avatar Roku gazed at me with a mixture of emotions that I could not identify.  
“I understand that you think you can handle this world, child. You remind me so much of myself at your age. Your youth causes you to have little control over your emotions and your strength. You will hurt the Avatar more than you can help him. I understand that you feel a sense of loyalty to him. It is best if you leave him behind.”  
Honestly, that did make sense, and I might’ve considered it if he hadn’t said the next sentence.  
“You do not belong here.”  
I narrowed my eyes. Fog started to appear and I figured that meant the solstice was ending. I squared my jaw and claimed confidently, “I’m not leaving Aang. I care about him too much now.” After he scoffed, I took a beat to glare daggers at him. “Maybe it’s selfish of me. In fact, it definitely is, but you know what? I will protect Aang with my life. That should be good enough for you.”  
Roku frowned severely at me. “I don’t know where you come from, but you must not interfere young bender.”  
Everything froze and my mind went blank. The fog started to rise up from the ground and thickened rapidly.  
“Wait!” I shouted, “What do you mean bender?!”  
Pulling myself up from the ground and inspecting my surroundings, I found the temple already crumbling around me. Outside the Sanctuary, my friends were standing at a window and looking terrified at the destruction. A large falling rock landed right next to me, sending me into a panic. I sprinted out of the Sanctuary as the floor began to give out and jumped out the window, nearly missing Appa as he swiftly took all of us up and away from the self-destroying temple.  
“Rei!”  
Drunk on adrenaline, I gave him a big smile and said, “Hey Sokka. How’s it going?”  
“What happened to you?” He demanded, forcibly checking me over for injuries.  
I waved him off, saying, “I just got captured temporarily. And found out that not only the Avatar can contact the past ones. It’s all good.”  
Aang perked up from within Katara’s embrace.  
“He talked to you? What did he say?”  
I scowled, “He made it clear he didn’t like me. Apparently, I’m a bad influence on you all.” I let out a big breath. “He told me to let you go on without me.”  
“Well, we’re not doing that.” Katara said, “You’re a valuable member of our team and we’re not leaving you.”  
“Yeah, who else would keep us all accountable?”  
I pushed his shoulder playfully. “Shut up.”  
He laughed and gave me a hug. I gave in for a minute before pushing him away. “Okay okay. Let’s get some rest. Today’s been extremely tiring.”  
As they soundlessly followed my instructions, I thought about what Avatar Roku said at the very end of my vision. What the heck was up with that? No, he must’ve been mistaken. I can’t be a bender. I’m not even from this universe.

A/N: I’ve had a realisation that I still haven’t completely figured out where this fic is going. Oops. No need to panic, I’m still gonna keep uploading each new chapter on Wednesdays. Once we get to the end of season one though, I’m gonna take a bit of a break to fully flesh out the story and fix any plot holes I can find in the already published chapters. That’s not gonna happen anytime soon, probably at least 12 chapters until that point. I just wanted to give y’all fair warning. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a great day!


	15. A Dangerous Fall

Last Time…  
I thought about what Avatar Roku said at the very end of my vision. What the heck was up with that? No, he must’ve been mistaken. I can’t be a bender. I’m not even from this universe. 

In the morning of the next day, both people who talked to Avatar Roku were stressed out beyond words. While Aang was hyperventilating and pacing around on Appa's saddle, I stood rigid at the back of Appa’s saddle, glaring at the clouds as if they were idiot randoms in a game of Among Us. I worried my lip and tried to remember exactly what Roku said to me. Back home, I was notorious for having an especially bad memory. So on the best of days, the exact words would not come back to me, but now I was super nervous about the new information he gave me. It seemed impossible to me that I could possibly be a bender. I wasn’t born a bender. During the first few weeks of our journey, I thought maybe the past Avatars might’ve been able to tell me how to get back. Roku just told me to let go of everything I know, even in this world, and basically just go away.   
“Would you both just sit down?” Sokka interrupted my musing, looking very concerned back at Aang and me, “If we hit a bump, you’ll go flying off. What’s bugging you two anyway?”  
Aang confessed, “It’s what Avatar Roku said. I’m supposed to master all four elements before that comet arrives.”  
Sokka leaned his arm on the saddle casually.   
“Well, let’s see. You pretty much mastered airbending, and that only took you 112 years. I’m sure you can master three more elements by next summer.” He teased good-naturedly.  
The joke flying straight over the airbender’s head, he agonized, “I haven’t even started waterbending, and we’re still weeks away from the North Pole. What am I gonna do?!”  
Katara grabbed his arm and pulled him down to her level.  
“Calm down. It’s gonna be ok. If you want, I can try to teach you some of the stuff I know.”  
“You’d do that?”  
“We’ll need to find a good source of water first.”  
“Maybe we can find a puddle for you to splash in. What about you, Rei?”  
“Same as Aang. I just can’t believe that Avatar Roku didn’t like me.”  
“Who could hate the control-freak, pretentious, loveable clutz that is you?”  
I stomped over to him and slapped him on the head.   
“Why don’t you let me take the reins for a bit while you go get some rest since obviously your brain needs a reset?”  
“I feel fine.”  
I hit him again.  
“No, I think that would be great. I’ll just go take a rest.”  
He slid around me and curled up at the back of the saddle. I smirked as I took up the front seat. 

Within the hour, I found the exact spot we needed. I brought Appa down gently next to a small waterfall. It was connected to a massive river to the west, so we’d hopefully be out of the way enough that no one should interrupt us until long after we cleared out. After sliding down to the ground, I yelled, “We’re here guys.”  
Aang jumped up and floated down after catching sight of the beautiful scenery. Katara widened her eyes in disbelief as she joined us at the water’s edge.  
“Nice puddle.” Sokka grumbled.  
Aang and Katara stood agape at the waterfall while Sokka grouched with his arms crossed. Appa flew up and crashed into the river, creating a huge splash that soaked and almost knocked Momo off the rock he was standing on. Appa flopped over onto his back leisurely.  
Taking off his shirt, Aang yelled, “Don’t start without me, boy!”  
Katara reprimanded, “Remember the reason we’re here.”  
“Oh right. Time to practice waterbending.”  
Sokka groaned, “Greaaat.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “What are we supposed to do?”  
“You could… clean the gunk out of Appa’s toes?”  
Aang held out a branch to us. My eyes widened in disgust at the implication and I looked towards Appa warily.  
“So, while you two are playing in the water, we’re supposed to be hard at work picking mud out of a giant bison’s feet?”  
“Mud and bugs!”  
Sokka shrugged, “Ok.” He grabbed the branch. “Come on Rei.”  
I shook his hand off and backed away, quickly saying, “Oh, I’m gonna go explore the woods. Maybe find a town. Maybe find some edible berries or something.”  
He deflated. “Oh come on!”  
I grinned and skipped away. “Have fun Sokka!”  
“Don’t leave me here alone!”  
“Sorry Sokka! Can’t hear you! Too far away! Have fun cleaning Appa’s toes!”  
“REIII!!”  
I laughed hysterically as I skipped farther and farther down the river. I reached the main river in no time and walked along it, appreciating the soft flowing and crashing sounds. The village wasn’t far away and was frankly quite boring. I spent a bit in the forest, getting a lay of the land and looking for anything I knew to be edible, but the sun was still high in the sky when I found my way back to our campsite. Though, I had explored my way to the top of the waterfall.   
I yelled, “Hey guys!”  
They all looked up and waved at me.   
“I found a town!” I pointed southwest, “That way!”  
I could almost hear Aang yelling, “Cool! We can’t hear you!”  
Smiling and shielding my eyes, I looked up at the sun to check the time. It was about midday. Lunchtime. Idly, I wondered what our rations would be today.  
The crashing of the waterfall suddenly got massively louder and I barely looked down at the water at my feet before I was forcibly flung out into the air. I screamed and water rushed up to catch me, but it was too late. When I hit the ground, I heard a loud, sickening snap. Pain flooded my left leg, spreading throughout my body. I cried out in shock and fell over, unable to hold myself up.  
My friends all rushed over to me screaming my name. I groaned and cursed. Getting closer, Katara gasped and started alternating between covering Aang’s ears and eyes. Sokka grabbed me and pulled me out of the water. He took one look at my foot, yelped in fear and noped himself away from it. Aang airbended out of Katara’s grasp and went completely white. Katara bit her lip, looking worried.   
“What guys? Surely it’s not that bad.”  
I looked down... and screamed. The movement made pain shoot like lightening up my leg and I hissed through it.   
“Oh my god. Oh my god. That’s my foot. Why does it look like that? Katara? Help! Come on. Please. It probably looks worse than it actually is.”  
I looked down at it again.   
“Oh god. That doesn’t look good.”  
Katara bent down and looked it over. I gasped in ice cold pain as she gently moved it.   
“Yeah. Your ankle’s broken.” She turned on the young avatar. “Aang!”  
He shrunk under her angry gaze. “I’m sorry.”  
“You need to think these things through before you do them.”  
“You were the one who told me about the move.”  
“Well, I didn’t-”  
I yelled angrily, “Guys! Shut up! My ankle is broken. It’s done. What do we need to do Katara?”  
“Well, we’re going to have to find someplace with medical supplies. If needed, we can get by without bandages and making our own splint, but it might heal wrong.”  
Sokka jumped in with more good news, “And our supplies got washed down the river with that big wave.”  
I sighed slowly, trying to suppress my anger at the situation, “There’s a town near here. Go to the main river and go south. Then when you get to the bridge, cross it and go down the road. It’s right there. I don’t remember if there was a doctor though.”  
“It’s worth a shot. Let’s go.” Sokka grabbed his boomerang sheath and hastily put it on.  
Katara stopped him. “Wait, we can’t just leave her here.”  
“Oh here. Sorry Rei.” He dropped his bag and rushed back over, taking up position behind me. “Can you get her leg Aang? I don’t want to move it.”  
With some airbending, repositioning and some painful yelps from me, they eventually got me off to the side under a tree, with my blanket under me and two large rocks on either side of my ankle to hold it in place.

After a prolonged pain-filled struggle, I finally managed to doze off. When I woke, it was to the sight of my friends huffing and puffing, sprawled out of the ground. I pushed myself into a sitting position while asking, “Did you guys get into trouble again?”  
Aang and Sokka both jerked up in surprise at my comment.   
“Well, did you?”  
Katara sighed, “Yes.”  
“So, who’s after you this time?”  
“Pirates. You know, I used to think they were cool, but those guys were terrible.”  
Katara shuffled nervously.  
“Why were they angry with you?”  
Sokka cried, “They just attacked us out of nowhere!”  
“Is that really what happened, or do you have something to tell us Katara?”  
Slowly, she brought out the scroll from behind her.  
“Katara?” Aang gasped.  
Katara mumbled, “Sorry Rei.” I held out my hand for it. She hesitated.  
“Give it here Katara. I just want to see what was worth risking all of our lives for.”  
She handed it over and I unfurled it in my lap. It was all there. The water whip and some other assorted waterbending moves that I both recognized and was unfamiliar with. I rolled it back up.  
“That was risky, Katara. Our first priority is to slip through undetected and unnoticed. If you can’t steal something with precision and stealth, don’t steal anything at all. Nothing is worth our lives.”  
“But the scroll can help Aang-”  
“I know!” She pulled back at my outburst. I rubbed my forehead and sighed, “Look, Katara. You have to think things through before you do them. You got angry at Aang for doing the same thing this morning. Yes, the scroll will be helpful, but it’s not worth losing one or all of you. Please tell me you understand that Katara.”  
“Yes, I’m sorry.”  
“Now, you and Aang can practice using this.” I handed the scroll back and she grabbed it much too quickly. She blindly hurried over to the river, studying the scroll as she walked. Aang followed after her and Sokka sat down next to me.  
“How’s your leg, Rei?”  
My attention strictly watching the two benders, I absently said, “Yeah, sure.” Katara had Aang hold open the scroll for her and I recognized the beginnings of the water whip movement. Oh, I really hope this isn’t going the same way as it did in the show.  
“Rei? I asked, how’s your leg?”  
“Yeah Sokka. That’s great.”  
“Rei!”  
Shocked at the outburst, I swiftly turned and accidentally moved my leg. I hissed in pain, clutching it and replacing the rocks in their positions. Sokka drew back nervously, shifting his eyes between my leg and my face.   
“Are you okay?”  
“Yeah, I’m fine Sokka. What is it?”  
“Nevermind, what’s up with you? Were you lost in thought?”  
Katara yelped from an unfortunate water whip to the forehead. I drew in a quick breath.  
“I’m just worried about Katara. She’s only ever been the only waterbender in the tribe. I’m worried about how she’ll react now that she’s not the only one.”  
“I’m sure she’ll be fine. After all, you’re the one who gets super competitive.”  
“Ugh! Sokka! It was one time!” I smiled despite myself.  
“You threatened to cut off my ponytail!”  
“You cheated!”  
“It was a game of complete chance! How could I have cheated!?!”  
“You… just- did!”  
Sokka raised an eyebrow at me.  
“Good comeback.”  
“Shut up.”  
Momo screeched after being hit on the bum by a horribly placed water whip.   
Stomping her foot angrily, Katara yelled, “Ugh! Why can’t I get this stupid move?!”  
“Calm down Katara! You’ll get it.” Sokka yelled back.  
“Sure Sokka!”  
“I’m sure you’ll get it Katara, but if you get angry and frustrated, it’ll only be harder. You need to relax.” I yelled.  
“She’s not gonna relax.”  
“Yeah, I know.”  
Aang put down the scroll and tried the water whip for himself, getting it on the first attempt. He started to say something, but Katara cut him off, “Will you please shut your air hole!? Believe it or not, your infinite wisdom gets a little old sometimes. Why don’t we just throw the scroll away since you’re so naturally gifted?!”  
“Katara!” I shouted.  
“What!” She shouted back, glaring at me. When I returned the glare with the same intensity, her face softened and I saw the realisation dawn on her. She said some soft words to Aang, then turned and walked away into the woods.  
“Aang! Can you come here for a second?” I yelled, then in a much softer voice, “Sokka, can you give us a minute?”  
The two boys crossed each other and Aang carefully sat himself next to me. “Yeah?”  
“Look, you know as well as me that Katara can get competitive, but that’s something she has to work out herself. You can’t let it deter you from learning waterbending. She needs some time right now, but after she’s done cooling down -and maybe in a couple days- you can help her understand the water whip a bit better.”  
His lip perked up a bit. “Yeah, ok. Thanks, Rei.”  
“And it wouldn’t hurt to tell her how beautiful and awesome you think she is more often. That’ll definitely get you into her good books.”  
Aang blushed something fierce and mumbled something about not true and shut up. I giggled and waved him off. “Go learn some waterbending. And get some rest. Y’all run around way too much even for growing young children.”  
He laughed as he walked back to the scroll with a pep in his step. I leaned my head back satisfied with my hard day’s work. Sokka wandered back to me and asked, “What’s with that huge smile?”  
Rolling my head over to look at him, I simply said, “I’m just happy because I managed to cheer Aang up a bit. And young love is just so adorable.”  
“You mean, Aang? And Katara?”  
I raised an eyebrow amused. “You didn’t know?”  
“No! Why would I even think about that?”  
“I guess that’s true. You’re a boy after all.”  
“What does that have to do with it?!” He shrieked, jumping to his feet.  
“It’s the problem with guys. They’re absolutely obviously to the matters of the heart. I’m just glad Aang knows about his crush and doesn’t just sit on it being weird like lots of little boys do.”  
Sokka laughed, “I wonder if Soras still has a crush on Luteya. He’d just run after her allday doing everything and anything for her.”  
Laughing wildly, we reminisced about the old gossip from the water tribe. It lasted well into dinnertime when Aang asked about it. Sokka and my tales about the drama were greatly exaggerated, which Katara called out, but it was all in good fun. We all went to bed with smiles on our faces, except for a certain waterbender.


End file.
